On this episode of the Potomac Local Podcast, we’re talking about our local libraries.
Last year, 2022, was a busy year for libraries in Prince William County and Manassas Park.
In Prince William County, the region’s most extensive library system, construction crews renovated Bull Run Regional Library, giving it a new, larger study room, a maker space, and an overall modernization for the 30-year-old building.
Central Library, one of the oldest in the system, received a new outdoor green for community gatherings.
Manassas Park, which separated from the county library system and formed its library in 2020, opened a newly-constructed library inside a new city hall. It built what city leaders hope to be a new downtown neighborhood, Park Central.
Prince William County Libraries Director Deborah Wright and Manassas Park Library Director Holly Ritchie joined me on the podcast. A representative from the Central Rappahannock Regional Library, which provides library services to residents in the Fredericksburg region, could not join us on the podcast.
From the discussion:
Uriah asks about the new Manassas Park library building: What’s the reception you’re getting from the city’s citizens? Are they surprised? Are they happy…as the residents now not only have their own library for the first time…?
Holly Ritchie: They’re really liking that our programs are geared toward them. We always do surveys about what they are looking for. They all love [Central Library (the closest to city residents)]. We hear about it all the time. They still enjoy going to Central, but they’re also liking the fact that they have this additional resource in Manassas Park for them. So most of our pay trends utilize both Central Library and our Manassas Park.
Uriah on reopening post-coronavirus pandemic: We’re taking off our masks, and we’re getting back out in public… how has the transition been for you to reopen your buildings?
Deborah Wright: …as we started to learn a little bit more about the virus and what was maybe safe and navigable and what wasn’t. Yeah, our people did get pretty pushy, in the best way,[and said] ‘my children need to come in and browse the collection. I don’t want you to bring the books to me to the car. We need to come in and look.’
Here’s the full episode:
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