Pack Library will reopen Monday, Oct. 18

Posted on by Jeff Fobes


From Pack Library’s Facebook page:
“We are opening this Monday!!! Come in, take a look at our schematic map on the kiosk inside the doors and then explore. We’re so glad to be back and to see our great friends and patrons return to us. Hope you like our new look. We’re greener, brighter, filled with new books (and old friends too), and have a great used bookstore “Bookends” at the front of the library.”

Earlier in the week, the page contained these posts:
“We’ve been as busy as bees for the last couple of weeks…working to get everything back on the shelves, computers up and ready to go…just a few more things to do.” (Oct. 12)
” Another step on the road to opening! We’re accepting requests for Pack books now. You’ll still have to pick them up at a branch—but at least you now have access to our amazing collection. Holds have been going out since Monday. Check our online catalog and get your request in today.” (Sept 30)

We’re getting the books back on the shelves as quickly as we can. There are still connectivity issues, but we hope to start making Pack books available for holds soon. Right now we’re shelving, reading the shelves, shifting the books on the shelves, and calculating how much more space we’ll need. Hope to see you soon. (Sept 9)

Pack Library closed this past February for renovations that were planned to take six to eight months. At that time officials said the library’s renovation would include a larger children’s and youth section, an added meeting room, a relocation and expansion of the North Carolina Collection and more computer access. A three-story tower with fire exits and restrooms was planned to be added to the north side of the building. In addition, all the lighting, heating and cooling and electrical systems would be completely upgraded with more energy efficient replacements.

For a video tour of the renovations by Xpress reporter Michael Muller:

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About Jeff Fobes
As a long-time proponent of media for social change, my early activities included coordinating the creation of a small community FM radio station to serve a poor section of St. Louis, Mo. In the 1980s I served as the editor of the "futurist" newsletter of the U.S. Association for the Club of Rome, a professional/academic group with a global focus and a mandate to act locally. During that time, I was impressed by a journalism experiment in Mississippi, in which a newspaper reporter spent a year in a small town covering how global activities impacted local events (e.g., literacy programs in Asia drove up the price of pulpwood; soybean demand in China impacted local soybean prices). Taking a cue from the Mississippi journalism experiment, I offered to help the local Green Party in western North Carolina start its own newspaper, which published under the name Green Line. Eventually the local party turned Green Line over to me, giving Asheville-area readers an independent, locally focused news source that was driven by global concerns. Over the years the monthly grew, until it morphed into the weekly Mountain Xpress in 1994. I've been its publisher since the beginning. Mountain Xpress' mission is to promote grassroots democracy (of any political persuasion) by serving the area's most active, thoughtful readers. Consider Xpress as an experiment to see if such a media operation can promote a healthy, democratic and wise community. In addition to print, today's rapidly evolving Web technosphere offers a grand opportunity to see how an interactive global information network impacts a local community when the network includes a locally focused media outlet whose aim is promote thoughtful citizen activism. Follow me @fobes
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