Remer Centennial Library opens its doors!

As you are all well aware if you follow me on Twitter, I volunteer at two libraries here in northern, rural Minnesota: the Grand Rapids Library, part of the Arrowhead Library System, is the bigger, official one. The Remer Centennial Library is brand-new and very small, located in a town of about three hundred and fifty people. I am on the board of the Remer Library, partially in charge of cataloging and managing book donations (as well as our web presence), and generally very excited about it. Which is why I was very happy when, after nearly three years of work, the library opened its doors for the first time yesterday.

(I'm the one on the far left. My mom, president of the library board, is the one cutting the ribbon.)

Remer is a (very) small town, established during the logging and railroad boom in 1912. Our library is located in the historic train depot in the middle of town. Unrelated: I can walk from one end of town, the church coffeeshop, to the other, the Cenex gas station, in five to ten minutes, depending on how well the sidewalk is salted. It's maybe two New York City blocks long.

The library proper.

The library has nearly five thousand books in its collection, all donations. We are incredibly lucky to have a supportive community that helped make this a reality, as well as a wonderful board and a great Friends of the Library organization. There were definitely bumps in the road, but everything came together in the end.

The children's corner at the library. The YA section is on the other side of the shelf to the right.

I'm so excited to have been a part of the birth of a library. The written word is what I live for, and it's an incredible thrill to put that love in the hands of other people. This is what I have been busy doing (since I haven't been too busy blogging), and I can't wait for further adventures in volunteering.

I encourage you to check out our library's Facebook page, and if you're interested in donating--the library is in particular need of children's, YA, and literary fiction--feel free to drop me a line at mdesmondobrien@gmail.com. Thanks for putting up with my incessant tweets, everybody!

What's next on the blog? An interview with Meagan Spooner, author of Skylark, which I reviewed recently. Stay tuned!