This is a branch library in one of the poorer parts of an already depressed town, so they are wanting to use it as more of a free community activity center, and the community it’s in will need it.
The library is not gigantic. It was formerly a funeral home. But they did an amazing job fixing it up.
Some of the features this library has or will have soon:
- A test kitchen with restaurant-grade equipment.
- A workshop with a tool library for lending.
- A clean-up room featuring a washer, dryer and shower free for use.
- A playground and splash pad for kids.
- A huge patio deck for reading, relaxing or whatever else you might want to do.
- Just a pleasant place to hang out.
And, of course, the expected things like a children’s area, meeting rooms, a teen area, a small computer lab and a small collection of books and DVDs.
Before you start complaining about how “libraries don’t have books anymore!” The book stacks are still a 10-minute drive/bus ride away at the downtown branch. The books aren’t going anywhere. Libraries are more than just books. They are one of the few places the community can get all sorts of resources and a place to access them for free
I absolutely love this. Good stuff, man.
Before you start complaining about how “libraries don’t have books anymore!” The book stacks are still a 10-minute drive/bus ride away at the downtown branch. The books aren’t going anywhere. Libraries are more than just books. They are one of the few places the community can get all sorts of resources and a place to access them for free
There’s always interlibrary loans. I’m sure you can search for a book on the online catalogue and ask for it to be transferred from another branch.
Anyway, fantastic and very creative work. I wish I had a library like this near me growing up.
You absolutely can. I’ve done it multiple times myself. Pretty much any public library (in the U.S. anyway) can do ILLs from what I understand.
That’s cool as shit, wow. I hope she’s proud!
She’s very proud. And very tired.
holy freaking cow this is the coolest thing ever! is there any way that we can (through sheer willpower maybe?) magically make one of these in every state?
stuff like this keeps me and my hope in humanity alive, thank you for sharing and thank you Mrs. Squid for being so awesome :)
Talk to your library board!
Wow… that’s gorgeous. A real community center…
Congratulations! I love seeing new libraries show up! I hope you don’t have to deal with authoritarian jackasses trying to ban books.
Wow!
Congrats mate
Every public library is a beacon of hope. Its the most true symbol of a civilized society. Each one brings light of knowledge where there would otherwise be darkness of ignorance.
Please pass my thanks to your wife for advancing civilization.
Huge W
Damn
Holy crap, that is a legitimately amazing place! Well done by Mrs. Squid!!
P.S. Libraries rock and are true treasures
How many arms does Mrs. Squid have to do all that?
Just the two. It’s an interspecies marriage.
As a grumpy skeptic doomer, thank you! Keep doing this. I really hope it helps a great number of people.
Congrats.
Is Terre Haute really that poor? Not what I’d expect from the hometown of one of our country’s most premier private technical colleges. Usually a college contributes quite a bit to the local economy, and that’s a fancy one.
Average household income is ~$40,000, which is about half the national average, and there’s a lot of joblessness, homelessness and substance abuse.
Rose-Hulman is a great school, but the school is outside of town and there’s no bus from there to town either, so they don’t go. We actually have three schools here- RHIT, Indiana State Univeristy and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. The students of all of them rarely leave campus. And I don’t blame them because in general, there’s fuck all for them to do.
It’s a pretty tiny school. Only around 2k students.
Oh, I see. That is really tiny.
Just another wow post, make sure to tell her people from all over the world are grateful for her work:)
I told her just before she left for work this morning about the positive responses she’s received from Lemmings and she was really happy about it. She has worked so hard on this and I’m so impressed with the results. It was the first time I’d seen the inside.
