WILLOW WOOD – The Northern Branch of Briggs Public Library at the Symmes Valley Multilevel School is celebrating its first year of operation with a renewed breath of life.

Tuesday, June 05, 2001

WILLOW WOOD – The Northern Branch of Briggs Public Library at the Symmes Valley Multilevel School is celebrating its first year of operation with a renewed breath of life.

The branch is a cooperative project between the library and the school system, bringing the resources of the library to the rural community. The Symmes Valley Board of Education and the Briggs Library Board of Trustees recently voted to extend the project for another year.

In its first year, the branch has proved to be a success. Branch manager Tami Jones said the library gains more patrons each month as more people learn what’s offered at the site.

"We grow every month as more people discover we’re here," said Jones. "We’re pleased with the reception from the community. The first week we issued 35 new library cards and reactivated quite a few expired cards. By the end of April, more than 800 new cards were made."

She added, "During that first summer, we had a great response to our children’s summer reading program, but many of the Symmes Valley area children didn’t begin to take full advantage of the library until school opened in August."

Jones said, "More people in the area are discovering us every day and finding we are not just a school library, but one that serves all ages in the community. It’s been a challenging, interesting and rewarding first year. I see the coming year as one of continued success and growth."

The branch at Symmes Valley offers the same services as any other branch, of the library, but at a smaller scale, Jones explained. She said books for adults, teens and children fill the shelves and DVDs, movies on video and CD’s are also available. She added that the library also offers Internet access to the public, fax machine use and copier service.

The summer reading program held last summer has also been marked as a success. Jones said 78 children completed the program last summer by reading all the required books.

This year’s summer reading program kicked-off on Monday with about 30 children meeting at the library for the "Where in the World are you Reading?" program.

The library’s summer hours are: Monday and Thursday from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m.; and Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.