BOUNTIFUL—Although the South Branch Library has closed its doors for the next 18 months, patrons can still get their reading fix. A temporary location, affectionately called the “Twig,” is open for business in the old Wight House clothing store building on Main Street in Bountiful. 

“We’ve leased it,” said Davis County Library Director Josh Johnson. “They’ve been very gracious to let us do some things. We went through a couple of different ideas of how to organize it. The branch manager actually came up with the final plan.”

All of the books from the old building that we’re keeping in the collection went to other branches, he said. “So they’re all still available for people.”

Johnson said one of the things they knew the library needed was some meeting space. “We knew we couldn’t do a regular auditorium or conference rooms. But we knew we needed something particularly for children because they’re some of our most avid physical users.”

There is an open area at the front with what used to be a dress display, he said. “The question is what can we do in a physical space. So one of the things here is all of these things (tables, chairs) can be moved for story time or that kind of thing.”

The library will still offer story time. Courtesy photo

 People can put books on hold and have them sent here, said Johnson. “We’ve had such good feedback. If you’re here there’s kind of a light and kind of almost boutique feel. Probably because it used to be a dress shop.”

It’s a great location, he said. “You can stop by on your way to do something downtown. So the idea is that we do have some programming here, but it’s mostly the small programming so we can control the space a little better.”

Honestly, 6,500 square feet sounds like a lot, Johnson said. “But it’s not that much square feet for what we do.”

The Twig will start doing 3D printing now that it’s open, he said. “I think they’re mesmerizing. Patrons can bring in a file and we’ll open the file for them and we might help them alter it a little bit if they don’t know how to 3D print. We charge by weight.”

For the most part they bring in their file and we print it for them, said Johnson. “It’s worked out really well. There may be some opportunity in the future to let people do it themselves.”

They also have a telescope that can be checked out. “In the old building it was never here,” he said. “People just checked it out. When it’s first come first serve it drives people crazy.”

Public internet and a printer are all still available and desks for quiet study are along the back wall. “This is actually where the dressing room used to be,” Johnson said. “There are magazines and DVDs too.”

With the limited space adults are probably a little more willing to put something on hold, he said. “But the kids want something now.”

“I’ve worked at the library for about seven years,” said Abigail Clawson. “The new setup is wonderful. I think it’s great that we’re still able to provide a lot of our normal services. I think a lot of people were really sad to think our building was going to be closed for so long.”

There are several things that were left behind in the building that they’re using such as shelves and an archway in the middle that they decided to keep, said Johnson. “I wasn’t sure about it at first.”

The facilities department built the desks, he said. “There’s a lot of stuff that we just can’t do that they found a way to do.”

Johnson said they’ve had a lot of compliments on the temporary space. “A couple people have said ‘hey you should just stay here.’ We just went through a lot of trouble to get the other building to be where it needs to be. I’ll stick with that one. But it (Twig) is a great location.”

The Twig is located at 85 North Main Street in Bountiful.