New Queens public library opens, serves thousands in first week
New public library opens in Queens
The Far Rockaway community has opened a new state-of-the-art library and numbers show residents have been taking advantage of the services. Another perk is that it will be one of the major branches in Queens open on Sundays. FOX 5 NY's Michelle Ross shows us how the neighborhood spent their Sunday by hitting the books.
QUEENS - Far Rockaway in Queens opened a new library last week and numbers show how much the space was needed.
After uncertainty around the NYC budget, Sunday service at major branches was reinstalled last month. However, this was the first Sunday at the Far Rockaway Library.
On Tuesday – the opening day – nearly 2,000 people went through the doors and 800 books and other materials were circulated. On the second day, there were over 700 visitors and nearly 700 items checked out.
The 18,000 square foot building, which took six years and $33 million to build, is a 10-minute walk for Shimon Kolodny.
"I used to just be sitting around in my house doing nothing on Sundays," Kolodny said. "I am so happy. I literally came here every single day since it happened and actually sometimes multiple times there and back in the heat. I love it."
The library has two floors worth of materials for residents to browse about. Downstairs is the section for teenagers and upstairs is a section for children and adults. There are also DVD's, books and magazines.
Sergio Cusmiani lives more than 100 blocks away, but he passes four other Queens libraries and this is the only one open on Sundays.
"A library is the community’s living room," said Dennis Walcott, president and CEO of Queens Public Library. To have that living room open to the public especially on a Sunday to me sends a very positive signal that we care about you, and we’re opening our doors."
The library is open seven days a week.