A blue ribbon was snipped to mark the grand opening of the new Clearwater Library on Tuesday morning.
The new branch, located above the Clearwater Arena off Wellington Street in Sarnia, replaces the former Mallroad Library which closed last year.
Cultural Services General Manager Andrew Meyer said patrons were excited to visit when the doors officially opened.
"It's been really busy," Meyer said. "On Monday, we had over 500 patrons come through the new space. In collaboration with our partners at the city, it's been an excellent project and we're really excited to welcome back patrons from Mallroad Library and welcome new patrons that are drawn to the arena and to the soon to be opened transit hub."
Meyer previously told Sarnia News Today the 4,000-square-foot space offers a collection of over 11,000 items, a new program room, private meeting space, public computers and self-service kiosk to check-out books.
Lambton County Warden Kevin Marriott said the library is a perfect fit for the area.
"This space is amazing," said Marriott. "It's bigger than I had even envisioned when they were discussing this as a proposal. So, when I see it physically, it's [clear] this is going to serve the community well."
Marriott believes the space will attract new card holders.
"A lot of people don't realize what they can get with a library card now," he said. "You can get newspapers from across the world, magazines that you would normally have to pay for, it's all free with your library card. We always seem to have an increase in people taking out memberships as soon as there's a new branch."
Marriott said there were concerns 30 years ago that libraries would not survive.
"I think there was a feeling in the 90s, when computers were catching on, that libraries would be gone by now, but if anything they're stronger than ever because extras that you can get other than books," Marriott said. "People that can't afford access to the internet, this is great for all of those people too.
Clearwater Library is open Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
