With shiny new tile floors and crisp white walls — not to mention thousands of books — the Stansbury Library welcomed the community back during an open house Monday.
The Stansbury Library had been closed since a renovation that began in January, following water damage to the floors and walls in the library’s space in the lower level of the Stansbury Park Clubhouse.
It’s been a long process to getting the library back together and some of the books returned to the shelves for volunteer library director Jessica Johnson.
“I’ll spend the next year putting them away where they belong,” Johnson said. “That’s just how it goes.”
While there were books on the shelves when visitors came to the open house Monday afternoon, thousands more were still in boxes. Johnson said she started the library with 300 of her own books after the branch of the Grantsville Bookmobile in Stansbury closed.
Following a pair of Eagle Scout projects and other contributions, the library now boasts a collection of books nearing 10,000 items, according to Johnson.
“So there’s a lot that you haven’t seen right now that’s in boxes,” she said. “… So you can see it’s going to be quite the process.”
In addition to new floors and fresh paint, the Stansbury Library is now state certified, which gives the library access to the state’s interlibrary loan system. The state library system also gave Johnson advice on layout for the library, which features lower shelves in a middle aisle and bench seating among the books.
Johnson said the state library, Grantsville City librarian John Ingersoll and her library board have all contributed to making the reopened library a success.
With its reopening in the books, the Stansbury Library will begin its summer reading program on July 17 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., which will continue on Tuesdays. The library will also host a book fair, featuring Usborne Books, on Thursday, July 19, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. with half of all proceeds going toward the purchase of new books for the library.