FULL LIBRARY SERVICE RETURNS DOWNTOWN To celebrate the return of full library service downtown, Minneapolis Public Library's precision book cart drill team will march in formation from the old library at 300 Nicollet Mall to the new location in Marquette Plaza TODAY at noon. Service had been limited since the 1961 library building at 300 Nicollet Mall closed August 3.
The parade marks the opening of "Central Library Marquette," with public service in a quarter of the skyway level and the entire third floor of Marquette Plaza (the former Federal Reserve Bank building at 250 Marquette). Hours of service will be 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday. The early morning opening allows time for downtowners to stop in on their way to work; the old library opened at 9:00 on weekdays. The skyway level of Central Library Marquette houses the Popular Library (new books and bestsellers), the Children's Library, a new Teen Area, and both staff-assisted and self-service checkout. The Friends Book Store, offering used books at bargain prices, is open on the skyway level daily (10:00-3:00 Monday, 10:00-5:00 Tuesday-Friday, and 10:00-4:30 Saturday). Third floor will house the library's extensive reference and general collections, periodicals, fiction, videos, CDs, and audiobooks. The space will accommodate roughly the same number of books and other materials as first and second floors at the old library. Staff will be available for assistance at two reference desks and some librarians will provide help within the stacks as "floaters." The Special Collections Department, including large segments of the Minneapolis Collection, will open October 14 on the fourth floor of Marquette Plaza, Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or by special arrangement. By the end of October, a portion of the 2.3-million item library collection will be moved to closed stacks in the lower levels of Marquette Plaza and will be accessible on request. Another 150,000 volumes have been transferred to the Minnesota Library Access Center at the University of Minnesota; these can be requested with a 48-hour turnaround. The remainder of the Central Library's collection (about 16% of the nonfiction books and 58% of the fiction books) will be in offsite storage and unavailable until the new Central Library opens in 2006. The New Central Library project is part of the "Great Libraries" referendum, approved by voters in 2000. The Referendum provides $110 million toward the new Central Library and $30 million for a decade of community library improvements. ### Kristi Gibson Public Affairs Minneapolis Public Library _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
