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Canfield library branch opening soon
CANFIELD
Construction of the new $5 million public library branch in Canfield is about 97 percent complete, and the building is likely to open around the second week of January, said Heidi Daniel, library director.
The new Canfield branch replaces the demolished library on the same site at 43 W. Main St.
The children’s early learning playscape is complete and installed; and shelving, cabinetry and landscaping installations are being completed, Daniel recently told trustees of the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County.
Books and other materials, which began arriving earlier this month, are being unpacked and placed on newly installed shelves, she added.
The new Canfield branch will have the same hours as the Austintown, Boardman and Poland branches: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Daniel said she believes Canfield’s Sunday hours won’t start until February because of uncertainty over the opening date.
Like other large branches, the Canfield library will be closed on summer Sundays.
The Stone Fruit coffee bar inside the new library is expected to be able to open on the same date the library opens, Daniel said.
To maximize staffing efficiency, patrons will be served at a central service desk at the Canfield branch.
“Staff is in the building right now a couple of days a week, partly to unpack and shelve the collection, and also, they are getting trained on the new service model with the one desk,” she said.
“We’re working on getting that 65,000-item collection onto the shelves,” she said.
The temporary Canfield library at the Mill Creek MetroParks Farm will likely remain open until the week before the new Canfield branch opens, she added.
“There’s a lot of community enthusiasm,” about the new library, and one of the questions most asked of library officials is when the new branch will open, said Janet Loew, library communications and public relations director. “We’re really thrilled that it’s not going to be very long,” she added.
The fate of the lightly-used Greenford branch will be decided after the Canfield library opens, Daniel said.
The Greenford branch is open 24 hours a week, eight hours each Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and its weekly door counts this year have ranged from 55 to 204.
“For the time being, we’ll leave it as is and just monitor the usage. And, of course, if we see that usage is dropping significantly, we will, at that point in time, decide to close Greenford,” Daniel said.
Because of its geographic remoteness, the Sebring branch will not be threatened with closing after the new Canfield branch opens, Daniel said.
With Boardman library renovations nearing completion, library trustees will soon hire an architect for the new West Side library, which will be on the same Mahoning Avenue site as the current branch, Loew said.