Written by Kathleen Xue

Saturday, Dec. 6 will mark the official opening of the new Mitchell Park Library and Community Center. The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. After four years of construction, the library will finally move from its Cubberly location back to the renovated building at the original 4050 Middlefield Road address.

The opening ceremony on Saturday will feature several music groups such as the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra string quartet and the Gunn Choir, as well as other organizations such as Palo Alto’s Children’s Theatre, Junior Museum and Zoo, Dance Connection and MakeX. There will also be periodic tours of the various facilities in the new library as well as workshops on arts such as dance, drawing comics and improvisation. The main goal of this ceremony, however, is to display the library’s new features and to encourage community members to register for library cards. Freshman Akash Thaker looks forward to the ceremony. “I think it will be lots of fun and rebrand the old library into something new and hip,” he said.

A couple of new features make the new library different from the previous one. The new building has two stories with patios on both levels, as well as new study rooms and workspaces the previous library did not accommodate. There is also an Ada’s Cafe shop in the Community Center selling pastries and beverages. According to librarian Christina Grove, however, the most exciting part about Mitchell Park are the new study and technology assets. “All the technology that we have here is really exciting,” Grove said. “Not only do we have more computers, but we have new computers that are all equipped with great [applications] like Photoshop.”

With all the new resources offered at the library, Grove wants to make sure community members are aware of what is available to them. “We have so much to offer, so we want to make sure everyone knows about it,” Grove said.

Thaker has high expectations of the new library. “I used to go to the old library every Tuesday because of the nice courtyards,” he said. “Now that the new library is done, I can’t wait to go back.”