Mountain View celebrates library's reopening

The library's rebirth is another step in the rebuilding of Mountain View, a once crumbling neighborhood that is fast changing as a result of urban renewal and modernization. It now boasts many new houses, the first credit union in memory, a dentist, new commercial buildings and, across from the library, the completely rebuilt Clark Middle School.

"We're still poor," said Mountain View Community Council president Don Crandall, "but we're not impoverished anymore."

The library is in a building that used to be the city Parks and Recreation Department. It was transformed from dingy offices into a light, bright library in a $4 million makeover. The building is 9,000 square feet, with a 6,000 square-foot library, an atrium and neighborhood meeting room. The walls are yellow and pastel blue. High windows let in streams of light.

Saturday, the community was invited in for speeches, entertainment and food, and the library was open for business too. Branch librarian Elizabeth Moreau said in the branch's first two weeks, more than 200 people signed up for new library cards -- one for every 16 1/2 minutes the branch was open. The doors opened Sept. 7, but Saturday was the reopening party.

"My kids love it," said Bou Lo, a Hmong resident with five children. They live in Muldoon but have been coming to the Mountain View library about three times a week. Saturday, some of the kids were using big-screen computers -- faster than the one they have at home, said daughter Katherina, 13.

Steven Bassett of Mountain View brought his 6-year-old son Isiah, who filled a bag with a CD and books, including one from the Magic Tree House series.

Mayor Dan Sullivan browsed the mystery-crime section.

Sullivan, Gov. Sean Parnell and U.S. senator and former Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich made remarks, along with representatives of organizations and businesses that contributed in a big way to the project: BP Exploration Alaska, the Rasmuson Foundation, the Atwood Foundation, the Gottstein Family Foundation.

To emphasize that the branch serves a multicultural neighborhood, a string of speakers welcomed the crowd in many languages -- Vietnamese, Spanish, Japanese, Tongan, Athabascan, Laotian and Hmong.

The library has books in different languages and English-speaking language lessons targeted at specific ethnic groups.

In the CD section, Cambodian and North African music are among the offerings.

Crandall said he hopes it's a place where all types of Mountain View residents can gather. "This is a great opportunity for us to come together."

While the donations, coupled with government grants and general obligation bonds approved by city voters, made it possible to build, stock and open the library, city government overall is facing budget cuts.

The Anchorage Library Foundation, which raises money for city libraries, and the Friends of the Library, left an information sheet on a table that read: "The Anchorage Public Library is in a struggle for survival. The library, which represents only 1.8 percent of the total municipal budget, has seen deep budget cuts during bust years but little restoration during boom years. We are now reaching a tipping point. ..."

Clare Stockert, development director for the libraries, said some operating money for Mountain View approved by voters was in the bond issue. Like other branches, its hours are limited: Tuesdays, 2-7 p.m., Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

But with all the private donations, it's stocked up on books and computers at least for now.

Find Rosemary Shinohara online at adn.com/contact/rshinohara. or call her at 257-4340.