The Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Public Library opened its doors to the public once again July 19 after being closed for two weeks due to electrical and roof damage from a fire caused by a lightning strike.
“Any time that you’ve been closed for a period of time, whether it’s a situation like this or a hurricane, that first day back, people need you,” said Anne Crawford, Ponte Vedra Beach Library assistant branch manager. “The library is part of the fabric of the family community feel we have here in Ponte Vedra Beach.”
According to Crawford, staff was greeted with an abundance of enthusiasm when they re-opened at 10 a.m. July 19.
“It has been wonderful to see lots of smiling faces coming through the door of all ages,” Crawford said. “Everyone that I’ve seen has been very happy, positive and just relieved to know that their library is here and open again. They’ve said several times about how much they’ve missed us and are glad that we’re back, and we as a staff feel the same way.”
The damage to the building has been repaired and none of the collections were affected during the fire.
“You can still smell a hint of smoke, but aside from that everything looks exactly as it did before,” Crawford said. “We were very fortunate in that regard.”
Although the Ponte Vedra Beach branch was physically closed, it did not stop the amount of people interested in searching and reserving books online for when the library eventually re-opened.
“People really did miss their library, and many of them know the staff by name,” Crawford said.
All the holds of materials that were sitting on the library’s shelves during the closure were extended until July 23.
Although the holds were turned off while the branch was closed, there remained a “pull list” of materials waiting to be processed when the doors opened back up.
“It’s a list of all the items we have to pull either for our patrons or for patrons at other branches, and it was at more than 400 items,” Crawford said. “The library never sleeps.”
The amount of the “pull list” is probably the best example of how much the local community missed the library during its absence.
The outside book drop opened one day prior to the entire library to give staff a day to do some catching up and get organized once again prior to returning to regular hours.
Crawford held a pizza party for the staff during the day as a way of welcoming everyone back, after many spent time working at various other branches in the county during the two-week closure.
