Posted: 12/12/07
Rush City's improved library offers room for
growing...in books and knowledge
 A beautifully renovated library awaits visitors this Saturday at the grand re-opening in Rush City. Months of work are now completed and patrons can enjoy their spacious, improved library. Stop by Saturday from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., enjoy some refreshments and see how good it looks. |
By MaryHelen Swanson
You know that new smell of a used car that has been detailed for resale? Smells like new.
The first thing you'll sense as you step inside the re-opened Rush City Public Library Saturday is the "new" smell. Then your eyes will open wide and your jaw will fall to the floor.
Am I in the same library, you'll ask yourself?
Indeed, you are.
"The commissioners came through for us," librarian Jeanette Monthye will tell you, and it's true, the Chisago County commissioners, after building three new libraries in the county, allocated about a half million dollars for the renovation of the Rush City public library.
That included the purchase of the building on Main St. and about $150,000 in remodeling costs.
At the helm of the remodeling project was librarian Monthye who the commissioners and East Central Regional Library officials entrusted with everything from the design to the color choices.
Monthye, who is glad the project is over, said she redrew the design 12 times before settling on a layout.
"It's warm and welcoming," she said, with comforting colors using a "tree" theme as the focal point for the decor.
"Every time we hit a bump," she explained earlier this week,
something wonderful happened."
The "we" includes herself and Jane Perkins, who is Monthye's right-hand woman at the library, and in the background, Jerome Monthye and Roy Perkins. Actually, Monthye called the two husbands "angels."
"Anything we asked, they've been there for us," she said.
The Rush City Lions donated five hours of work, and were especially helpful in moving the heavy checkout desk.
Everything in the library was moved around three times making for a very physical adventure for Monthye and Perkins. That included 1000 boxes of books and all the furniture and shelves.
More help came from the school librarians who donated 10 hours in shelving books.
To prepare the library for the re-opening this week, Monthye and Perkins put in 5 1/2 hours of cleanup last Friday.
It has to be just perfect when the town people come to visit.Monthye wants them to be proud of their library.
It's been hard for the residents, especially the children, to be without their library since late-September when it was closed for the renovation.
In fact, as the opening gets closer, eyes peering through frosty smudges and little taps on the windows let Monthye know that the public is anxious to get back inside.
For Monthye, who has served as librarian for 27 years, the project is the hardest thing she's ever done. Even harder than working on a shrimp boat. And she's been there.
She said she had a really good contractor in David Walberg and Minnesota Flooring in Rush City did the floors.
There will be a used book store in a nook at the front of the library and there is wireless communications as well as six computer stations.
There will also be a quiet study room with a table and word processing computer available in mid-January.
There's a children's section and a teen section and oh, so much more, and there's room to grow. And in spring, the exterior of the building will get a facelift and a new roof.
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