Today is opening day for Manasass Park’s first library

Manassas Park today will celebrate the grand opening of its first library, the Manassas Park City Library.

The grand opening will take place at the library in Bloom’s Park, at 9701 Manassas Drive, the former clubhouse of the General’s Ridge Golf Course.

The library is open by appointment only, and for curbside pickup due to the coronavirus pandemic. Visitors will be allowed inside the library for one hour, and appointments can be made online. 

Users can also register for a library card online and then go to the library to pick up the card. Registered users may also check up materials online and head to the library for curbside pickup.

The building in Blooms Park will be a temporary location for the new library which, in 2023, will be relocated to the Manassas Park City Center, a new development slated to be built next to the city hall.

The city’s governing body decided to its own library system in February, leaving the Prince William County Public Library System and joining the Library of Virginia System. 

“We’ve been engaging in so much over the last three years on how to fix the city’s finances, how to improve our operations, how to improve our technology, how to improve our economy, and this has been something we’ve been discussing for a while,” said Manassas Park City Manager Laszlo Palko. 

Following that decision, city leaders signed a contract with Library Systems & Services, a private Maryland-based firm hired to manage the city’s new library.

“…they helped us with the recruitment [of] library staff. Their team…was serving as our library staff until they got the permanent staff actually hired. Had we not gone that route, there’s no way we would’ve been able to open on time,” said Palko.

The private firm is the nation’s third-largest library system and is relied on by over 80 libraries and communities. Manassas Park will be its first client in Virginia.

In addition, the new Manassas Park library will receive state funding and the city is looking for grants. 

Holly Ritchie will serve as the Manassas Park City Library director, and three outsourced employees will work at the library.

Ritchie obtained her Master’s degree in Library & Information Sciences from the University of Arizona and her Bachelor’s Degree in Library Informatics from Kentucky University. She has spent most of her career in libraries in a variety of positions, such as:

• An overnight shift supervisor at Arizona State University
• A Youth Services Library Assistant at the Phoenix Public Library,
• A Cataloging/Serials Assistant at Chase Law Library
• The Voyage Librarian aboard the study abroad program, Semester at Sea, for the Spring 2020 voyage

The grand opening, while initially planned to be a ribbon-cutting ceremony, will now be an appointment-only ceremony, with social distancing measures in place.

Manassas Park’s library will offer physical and digital books, technology services, and volunteer opportunities for residents.