Saturday, August 29, 2009

Louisville Free Public Library: Downtown Facility Reopens

Link to August 29 Louisville Courier-Journal article, "Library's open door".

Excerpt: The library lives.

It opened again on Thursday, 23 days after the flood and 12 days before its projected reopening date of Labor Day.

Is all right with the world? Not quite. Some areas are still closed off. The elevators don't work. Patrons might have to wait for a book to be retrieved for them. Renovating the post-flood library is a work in progress. Damage could total $5 million.

When asked for a literary reference to the closing and reopening of the library, director Craig Buthod cites author Barbara Tuchman, who said, “Nothing sickens me more than a closed library door.”

More than 2,000 people visit the downtown library every day. The staff didn't want to disappoint that many people any longer than necessary, Mr. Buthod says, and they didn't want to wait until Labor Day to reopen. Special incentive to beat the deadline was seeing people stop by each day and try to open the doors.

No comments: