Union Public Library - Grand Opening

What a great day! Yesterday, Patty and I had a wonderful experience attending the grand opening of the Union County Public Library in Lake Butler.

From this (January 23, 2008)



To this (July 1, 2009)



300 residents of the community turned out for a great event to celebrate the opening of this new library. Some interesting facts I came away with:

• This town loves their library!
• They were able to build the library for $82 per sq ft, instead of $175 per sq ft that jobs like this usually run. How? Donations, partnerships with local businesses that provided discounts on supplies, and most importantly labor provided by inmates with the Dept of Corrections.
• The First Christian Church purchased the old library building in 2007 and allowed the library to continue operating there until June 2009. The church paid all the money up front and never bugged the library about moving.
  
• The Library Director, Mary Brown, and the library staff love their library, and the community they serve.
  

Here are some photos I took on NEFLIN's Flickr Page. (Where noted I added a few from fellow photographer Hans Li who got some shots I was unable to get).

Congratulations to Mary and her staff for all their hard work over the past few years to make this new library a reality.