Movies are back
There Great Bend Pubic Library will show free movies this Friday, April 17.
The children’s movie at 4 p.m. will be the new “Annie.”
The adults night out library “The Judge” will be shown at 7 p.m.
A handful of patrons were waiting Wednesday morning when circulation clerk Maggie McQuade unlocked the front doors of the Great Bend Public Library.
“Welcome back!” McQuade said. The library had been closed since Jan. 22, while a new geothermal heating, ventilation and air conditioning system was added.
Library service has continued, with a temporary outpost set up in the former Blockbuster video store on 10th St. in February. But Gary Parr and Steve Fose – the first people to arrive for Wednesday’s 10 a.m. opening – said they were glad to have the real library at 1409 Williams St. open again.
“It was too far to walk,” Parr said of the 10th St. outpost. “I miss the movies,” he added.
Fose and Parr both said they like to use the computers at the library, read newspapers and check out movies. Those services continued at the outpost, but it wasn’t the complete library service they were used to.
The library also shows some movies, but had to forego that service during the hiatus. To celebrate the reopening, two movies will be shown this Friday, said Jennifer King, the Young Adult/marketing librarian.
While the installation of the HVAC necessitated closing the library, the staff took advantage of the downtime to make some other changes at 1409 Williams St.
“Everything is new and different,” King said.
The bookshelves, formerly in set along parallel vertical lines, are now at angles. “It’s increased our sight lines throughout the library,” King said.
Patrons will find that fiction, nonfiction and the movies and TV shows on DVDs have all been moved. While King joked that this may get people to do more browsing, the move creates more space for the types of materials most requested, she said.
When moving some shelves, the staff uncovered some windows that were previously blocked and decided to move the reading nook to a quiet corner where the natural light now shines in.
The children’s area of the library has new floor cushions and an art table that the library received from the Junction City Public Library.
The Teen Spot also has some colorful new furniture.
