Published: December 05, 2007 11:08 pm         

Library’s location at mall opens to the public Monday

After nearly two months without library service, Enid residents will have access to a temporary library in Oakwood Mall beginning Monday.

Ab Kader, director of Public Library of Enid and Garfield County, said the temporary location will be in the former Waldenbooks site near JCPenney, on the east end of the mall, 4125 W. Garriott.

The temporary branch will remain open until the downtown library building is ready following cleanup and repair of damage from a storm in October. During repair work, engineers found a host of other issues with the building, including structural problems and asbestos that must be removed. Many books were damaged by water, became moldy or were covered in asbestos dust.

Hours at the mall location will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The branch will be named after Cora Porter, a former Enid library director who was named a Librarian of the Century by Oklahoma Library Association in 2007.

Kader said space is limited at the mall, but the branch will include Web-based reference, current newspapers and periodicals, Internet access with six computers on a 30-minute time limit, books on tapes, videos, CDs and DVDs.

Books available at the mall will include children’s, young adult, a limited number of adult fiction and non-fiction volumes, as well as a number of new books. For a limited time, Kader said, there will be a limit of one book or one CD per person, but tapes and videos may be checked out three at a time. All library materials currently checked out may be returned to the mall location after Monday.

“At present we have only 400 adult books, but we have more than 1,000-plus children and young adult books, as we processed them on a priority basis,” Kader said.

Library staff members have been going through books to make sure they are safe, with no mold or asbestos problems. Staff members will expedite processing another 5,000 books, Kader said, to make sure they are safe to put on the shelves.

The limit on the number of books a person can check out may ease as some of the 6,000 books currently out are returned, he said.

Libraries in Hennessey, Kingfisher and Stillwater also have agreed to assist Enid residents in library services.

Kader said logistics are being worked out for a cyber cafe, if possible, at the mall location. Plans also are being made to set up a television to show programming from PEGASYS, Enid’s community access television station.

Government documents services will be provided by Northwestern Oklahoma State University-Enid, and no inter-library loan services will be available, Kader said. Reference, circulation and information library staff will be available in the branch in the mall to assist patrons. Children’s story hour will be Dec. 19 in the foyer in front of the mall branch, he said.

Most of the library’s book collection is in protected storage while asbestos abatement and other repairs continue, he said. Kader said library staff members are working to salvage more than 80,000 books and other resources.

City officials continue to work with insurance companies to determine how much money the city will receive to pay for damages caused by the October storm, which peeled back part of the roof, allowing water into the building. Until that amount is determined, Kader said, library supporters are coming forward to help with expenses.

Friends of the Library has offered to purchase the latest core children’s books immediately and also will consider assisting other library fundraising. Kader said he is working on new grants for the library. Among those under consideration is a gift registry at local bookstores and other outlets so shoppers may purchase books and other materials needed by the library.

A children’s book fair is being planned in January or February, Kader said, to help the library purchase books and materials. People may purchase and donate new and classic titles to rebuild the children’s collection, which Kader said was heavily contaminated.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony at the mall location will be 10 a.m. Monday.