Middlebrook Library Station now open

Riverheads District Supervisor Nancy Sorrells said she knew the new Middlebrook Library Station was an immediate hit when she discovered that one young patron had visited it three times on the first day.
The station opened this past week in the former Brubeck’s Hardware in Middlebrook.
The library station will have hours of 3 to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Sorrells believes her entire magisterial district will take advantage of the library station, which contains about 6,000 volumes as well as DVDs, videos and periodicals.
“I think people will come from several miles,” she said. “If Middlebrook is the center, everybody south and west will come, and we’ll pull from Spotswood and from Rockbridge County.”
Jack Holt, manager of Augusta County Library’s Churchville branch, also oversees the county’s library stations, including ones in Craigsville and Deerfield.
Holt said the library station has been well-received so far.
“All of the reaction has been very positive, and we certainly expect it to be meaningful for residents in that area,” Holt said.
Since the county library’s bookmobile was retired, Holt said Middlebrook and other Riverheads District residents have had to drive to Staunton and Fishersville to get library books.
“We are making the library more accessible by putting it in more places,” he said.
Holt said patrons can access computers through wi-fi hookups and two public-access Internet broadband computers.
“Computer access is a big part of libraries now,” Holt said. “Library science is morphing into computer information.”