By ALYSIA ANDREWS
The American Fork library has finally moved and settled into its new location.
After two weeks of negotiation, the Alpine School District gave permission for the American Fork library to move into their warehouse. The warehouse is located at 88 N. and Church St.
The warehouse location is only temporary while the new library is under construction.
“We painted the warehouse doors bright colors and the posts bright colors to add some color,” said Sheena Parker, assistant director at the American Fork library. “We vacuumed, we shampooed carpets, we cleaned bathrooms all to get the warehouse ready to move into.”
The library closed its doors to the public while it moved. But the public did not stop coming.
Local scout troops, families and the National Honor Society at American Fork High School pitched in their time to help move the library.
“We just moved books, boxed them up and took down the shelves,” said Jake Summers, vice president for NHS at AF high school. “Then we moved them to the new library, rebuilt the shelves and put them back on the shelves.”
The NHS club felt the library would be a great service project to help the community, Summers said.
In the past few years, the NHS has encouraged their clubs to make community service another aspect of the organization.
Tommy Fish, an NHS member, said he learned more than just serving.
“I feel like I know more about how a library works, and kind of how a team works. It is really awesome to see everyone work for the same goal,” Fish said.
Other community members became involved by checking out 40 books each. This community involvement reduced the number of books having to be packed and moved.
“It was really interesting to watched how people chose the books to take home,” Parker said. “Some would just take any 40 books. Others would wonder through the library, picking books they would like to read even though they would never have enough time to read them all.”
With moving comes adjusting to the new environment of a loud heater and no air conditioning.
Parker said the city is working on finding air conditioning for the new location before summer.
Overall, American Fork citizens have taken an active part in helping the library.
“It’s been great. I think that this whole project from the beginning of the building until the end has been community involvement right from the start. And they feel like it’s their library and they want to be involved,” Parker said.
