PACKER TOWNSHIP -- A community in Carbon County has been without a public library for just over two years, but its library is finally back.
The old building along Brenkman Drive near weatherly used to be a sewing mill, even a bowling alley, and now it's home to the new Weatherly Area Library.
“They have been anticipating this for the last two years. Almost every month I would be asked, ‘When are you going to open? When are you going to have the library?'” said Robert von Frisch, Weatherly Area Library.
Joseph Godfrey used to take his daughter to the old library in Weatherly before it closed in 2014. The building it was in became too run down.
“We went there a couple of times, but it was kind of small. It wasn’t big enough for a library actually,” said Godfrey.
The new library space is six times bigger, and with a fully renovated building filled with nearly 15,000 books, it is certainly better.
“It’s nice that they were able to do it. I know that they have been raising funds for years. They’ve been looking for a place they finally found it, so it’s going to be really, really nice,” said Michele Gerhard of Weatherly.
It took two years and two days and about $200,000 for this community library to return, and many in the Weatherly area are happy that it is back.
“People were coming in steadily on Monday when we had our first opening. We had parents and children and adults coming in. The kids were playing with the books, sitting on the floor and reading already,” said von Frisch.
Robert von Frisch helped get this library up and running for the Weatherly area.
And with a team of volunteers he worked hard to create spaces where it feels less like an institution and more like a home.
This library will run on grants and donations, so it will need to feel welcoming for community support and to ensure the new library thrives.
