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.
I really wish Imgur didn’t block VPNs 🙁
I’m sure it’s lovely - congratulations!
Is that why I see that message instead?
Thank you.
I love how you include a cleanup space. Very cozy 3rd place for people to hangout. Good job dude!
How do you continue to fund this though?
Primarily funded through taxes, but even the local Republicans aren’t suggesting cutting the library budget. They’re pissed off about the clean-up room because “it will encourage them” (while also complaining about the smelly homeless people in the library), but they also know the library here is super popular. There was a “we love our library” yard sign they were doing a few years ago and they ran out of signs. They have a summer community book read and they did The Martian this year and ran out of free copies.
Such a weird town. A lot of poor people, many of them without advanced education, but a lot of readers as well.
Keep fighting the good fight against ignorance and illiteracy!
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
How many people did it take to get this done? It looks fantastic for something that is just getting started.
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.
It’s a pretty tiny school. Only around 2k students.
Oh, I see. That is really tiny.
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.
More books would be nice, but the rest looks awesome. A great place for the community.
Looks great fellow Hoosier. Terre Haute needs more of this.
