Celebration Will Mark Opening of Library Branch

The long-awaited Panorama City Branch Library will open Monday with a ceremony attended by city officials, including Mayor Richard Riordan and Councilman Joel Wachs.

The 12,500-square-foot branch, built on the site of the old library at 14345 Roscoe Blvd., is twice the size of the former building. All the furnishings are new, said librarian Catherine Ortiz, who was just promoted to her first senior post.

“I consider it like Christmas,” she said of her sense of anticipation as books were unloaded and shelved last week. “Every time we open a box, we don’t know what’s in it.”

Foreign language books in Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese will be part of the library’s 50,000-volume collection. The branch also will have a “virtual” library, with multimedia computer workstations with Internet access to the World Wide Web.

“For the community, it’s long-awaited and well-deserved,” said Edris Newton, library manager of the East Valley area. “Their support for the library has continued throughout the renovation period.”

Groundbreaking for the $4-million state-of-the-art facility was in January 1997. During construction, a bookmobile was set up in the nearby Panorama Mall to serve the estimated 110,000 patrons of the branch.

When the old Panorama City branch closed for renovations, it was one of the busiest of the city’s 66 libraries.

The library improvement was authorized as part of a 1989 bond measure, but construction was delayed several times in favor of other branches, officials said.

The grand-opening ceremony will begin at 10 a.m.

The Panorama City branch will be open from 12:30 to 9 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays, 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, and 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. For more information, call (818) 894-4071.