Supporters of Rockrimmon Library in northwest Colorado Springs, which was closed down by Pikes Peak Library District officials at the end of last year, have opened a new library across the street from the old one.
Volunteers at the new library, called Reading at the Rock and housed in Christ the King Lutheran Church on Vindicator Drive, gave out more than 40 free library cards to booklovers ranging in age from 99-year-old Dave to 4-year-old Lillian between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on opening day, April 3.
The opening was a “soft” one, to allow volunteers to see if the processes they have put in place to run the library work, to gauge people’s interest in the reading rooms and see which times see the most traffic.
Over the next few weeks, the little library in the church, which has a children’s room and a grown-ups’ room full of books, is expected to be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, and from 9 a.m. to noon on the second Saturday of the month.
The grand opening is set for Saturday, May 10, though this is subject to change.
Karla Powers, head of the grassroots group that fought to keep Rockrimmon Library open, still hopes that the PPLD will reopen a library in northwest Colorado Springs.
“It’s so hard to get to another library from here,” she said. The nearest PPLD library to the Rockrimmon neighborhood is more than seven miles away, on the other side of I-25, and requires a car to get to. Rockrimmon was less than two miles from Powers’ home, through a park with walking trails. It was the second busiest library in Colorado Springs.
