Green Valley Library partially open during renovation

By Jeremy Twitchell

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 | 11:16 a.m.

The carpet is torn up, the walls are bare and the lobby is covered with new shelves and packages of books.

The Green Valley Library Branch still has nearly two months of work left before it will be ready to reopen, but library administrators have opened up a small, temporary service near the entrance to provide basic services in the meantime.

The Henderson Library District has been working on renovating the branch since assuming control of it Jan. 1 from the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, which transferred materials and staff to its new Centennial Hills Branch.

The Green Valley Branch is expected to fully reopen in late April.

The temporary library is open four days a week: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Branch manager Stephen Platt said the branch has seen about 100 people a day since it opened the temporary library on Feb. 23.

"So far, (feedback) has been pretty positive," he said. "People are eager for us to open. They want computer access."

The temporary library only has a few hundred square feet to work with, so it's offerings consist of a smattering of popular children's and adult books as well as magazines and a limited collection of music and movies.

There are no computers or Internet access yet, but both will be available when the branch debuts a 30-station public computer lab at its grand reopening, Platt said.

Ben Moeslacher, a branch patron who was visiting for the first time since the Henderson Libraries assumed control, said she and her son, Ty, couldn't find the movie they came looking for. But they came away with a few books and a favorable impression of the branch's direction.

"It's nice," she said. "I've been here many times, and it's looking a lot better."

Inside, the bare floors and telltale signs of walls that have been removed or reinforced, show that there is still much work to be done. But Platt, standing next to a pallet of books waiting for his staff of four to unwrap and put on the shelves, said everything is on schedule for the late April reopening. The date will be announced in the near future, he said.

"It's kind of a mess," he said. "But it's an organized mess."

Platt said the best part of his hectic schedule has been interviewing and hiring the branch's staff, which will begin work later this month.

"We're getting a lot of good people," he said. "That part of the job is going really well, and I'm really excited about some of the people we've chosen.