Three Rivers Library in Home Stretch for Public Opening

Bobbi Schoon, Acting Director of the Three Rivers Public Library (TRPL), feels good about the way the new building at North Main and Moore Streets has come together. “It’s going good,” she said. “we’re getting there, you know?”

Renovating the 1960s-vintage former bank building with its large columned front has been a multi-year process. “We’re really proud of it. We’ve just got to fine tune the last few little things, and then we’re excited to start opening the doors,” Schoon said.

This past Monday, the library resumed its popular curbside lending service at the new location. Schoon isn’t certain how many people showed up for the first day of the service, “but I know that the phone was ringing pretty often, so that was good news.” The service is a pandemic measure designed to keep lending available to the public amid precautions that make the indoors a staff-only area for the time being.

“It’s interesting with drive-through, because you kind of have to train the people on the process,” Schoon said. “Even though we had that down pat (at the old location), we had to kind of do it again because it’s a different area, with a different parking lot. But we were excited that people were here the first day, ready to get books again. And we were ready to give them to them.”

Staff from the Three Rivers Area Community Foundation (TRACF), the Three Rivers Area Chamber of Commerce (TRACC), and the Three Rivers Downtown Development Authority coordinated a ribbon cutting Monday, which also included some members of city staff and the Three Rivers City Commission.

“It was really nice to see so much support from the community,” Schoon said. “We had quite a few people there, so that part was really nice. And we were able to give a tour and talk about the different spaces that we’ve created, and what we’re looking forward to sharing with the community soon.”

Planning for the ribbon-cutting occurred quickly. “It was actually (TRACF Exeuctive Director and City Clerk) Melissa Bliss that said, ‘hey, are you doing a ribbon cutting,’” Schoon said. “I went, ‘oh, I didn’t even think of that. What a great idea.’ So, she helped connect me with (TRACC Executive Director) Christy Trammell, and we just kind of worked details out.”

Once the library has opened beyond curbside service, Schoon said a larger ceremony is in the works. In the meantime, however, Schoon said, “as of October 5, we’ll be doing appointments for fax and copies only. That’s been a big need that we’ve been asked about over and over, almost on a daily basis, so we’re really excited to get that back up and running.”

An opening that will allow fuller inside access is planned for October 19. Because of the ongoing pandemic, there will still be protective measures in place for social distancing. Schoon said, “we’re letting people in the building, but it’ll just be time sensitive. So, you can’t linger quite yet. You can come in and browse, and take a little look around the library, but we’ll be limiting the amount of time and people in the building just to make sure we keep the occupancy where it needs to be to keep everybody safe.”

Preparations and adjustments in the new building have kept Schoon and other staff busy. The library moved from its old location over several weeks in late August and early September, during which it was closed. At the same time, Schoon had to interview and hire two new staff members.

In the days leading up to the restart of curbside service, Schoon said, “we had just a lot of little details that we had to get done. Of course, we have a new phone system, do we had to learn how to use that. Our old one you just picked up and used it. And this one, there’s all sorts of little fun features, which are fantastic, but we don’t know them all yet.”

The library also has a new cataloging system. “Just the way it fell,” Schoon said, the new system came at the same time as the move-in. Staff knew the new system was coming, she said, but “with the move getting pushed back from COVID, we didn’t realize that would be the same time period. So of course, we were making sure that we knew how to (use the new system) so that we could serve customers as soon as we were ready to open.”

On top of learning new systems, staff have also had to finish and adjust to the new space. Schoon said the occupancy permit had to be completed, and “just all those little details to be to be ready for people, and just fine tuning our collection. As we moved in, it was about speed to get everything in its spot. We wanted to clean it up and make sure that everything was put back correctly. So, we spent a lot of time going through the inventory and making sure that that we were ready.”

Schoon is currently in her second stint as Acting Director for TRPL. She is working on obtaining the necessary graduate degrees that will make her eligible to become the library’s permanent, full-time Executive Director.

However, Schoon has been involved with the new library project almost from the start. At first, she said, “it was kind of an on and off thing. I was Interim Director within a few days of starting (at the library) three years ago. I helped with a lot of the design for the upstairs spaces we reworked to include rooms that are already there. The color choices for the upstairs, I was a part of all the way through.”

When former Executive Director Lynn Schofield-Dahl was hired, Schoon said, “I stepped back, and it was her baby. When she left again, it became my baby again. On and off, all the way through, I’ve had a pretty big part of being able to say this color and that design. So, it’s been it’s been pretty amazing.”

Schoon has been responsible for complete oversight of the building’s renovation since assuming the Acting Director title again. Now that the exterior work is nearing completion and interior spaces are largely put together, Schoon is pleased. “This place is just so inviting,” she said.

“I really love the new environment that we get to offer here,” Schoon said. “You know, the old library didn’t have any windows. So that part was a little draining sometimes with the darkness of everything. And this building is just so light. Just, to me, you walk in and you feel happy. So overall, I feel like all the hard work was worth it. You know?”

Dave Vago is a writer and columnist for Watershed Voice. A Philadelphia native with roots in Three Rivers, Vago is a planning consultant to history and community development organizations and is the former Executive Director of the Three Rivers DDA/Main Street program.