New Phelan Memorial Library Now Open

Filed Under In The News | Comments Off

During a break in a rainstorm Saturday, San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt joined community leaders and hundreds of local residents at the dedication ceremony and Grand Opening of the new Phelan Memorial Library.
Phelan Library Ribbon Cutting
The 8,400 square-foot County branch library will be the first stand-alone public library in the area. Previously, San Bernardino County provided library services at a 5,000 square-foot shared facility located at Serrano High School. Mitzelfelt thanked the Snowline Joint Unified School District for its support and partnership in providing previous public library services.

The Supervisor dedicated the new facility to America’s veterans. It is the first memorial library in the County Library System. Mr. Mitzelfelt also offered special thanks to local veterans, including Army Cpl. Jeffrey Roberson of Phelan, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2006, and Staff Sgt. Jarod Behee, who was severely wounded in Iraq in 2005 and participated in the VFW Color Guard and helped Mitzelfelt cut the opening ribbon Saturday. Recent Serrano High School graduate Joel Ontiveros recited his own unique tribute to veterans.

The library features a memorial plaque and statue. The Tri-Community Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9415 will maintain the library’s memorial artifacts, displays and remembrances.

Supervisor Mitzelfelt and County Librarian Ed Kieczykowski thanked county staff, the Friends of the Library (who have raised thousands of dollars for additional books and who will help staff the facility), and the builders of the project, including General Contractor Mark Forbes and partners Robert Masseth and Bob Raymondo.
Phelan Memorial Library
The new library offers a larger collection of materials and many more computers, as well as a 750 square-foot meeting room, which is available for community use, a 600 square-foot computer training lab, a 600 square-foot children’s area, and a 450 square-foot young adult area. The facility can support up to 30 public-access computers.

Staffing has been increased, which will allow it to be open 48 hours per week – a substantial improvement from the 27 hours per week previously offered by the Serrano joint-use library.

The new Phelan Memorial Library is located at the intersection of Lindero Street and Clovis Road in downtown Phelan at 9898 Clovis Road. The phone number is (760) 868-3053. Online information is available at http://www.sbcounty.gov/library.

Comments

You must be logged in to post a comment.