Norman Community Helps To Prepare Opening Of $39 Million Library

After more than 50 years of service in its current location, the Norman Central Library is moving to a new home.

Sunday, people from across the community lent a hand to help with the move, one book at a time.

A book brigade formed taking the Folktale section through the backdoor of the old library, to the children’s section of the $39 million new library.

"We have hundreds of people here to make light work of a big task,” Mayor Breea Clark said.

The line shuffling books from hand to hand stretched across Andrews park.

Central Library Branch Manager Caroline Dulworth said members of the community even offered to bring pickup trucks to help with the move.

We are not actually moving the library, we have movers that are moving the rest of the library,” Dulworth said. “This was a chance for the community to feel like they have a part.”

Voters overwhelmingly approved the half cent sales tax four years ago, funding a new Norman East Library location and building a new location for the state of the art Central Library.

“The sales tax dollars and the people payed for this library,” Clark said. “To be a part of the transition makes it feel more personal as it gets ready to come online.”

The grand opening for the new location is set for Sunday, November 3 at 2 p.m.

“It just shows how much the community loves their library, and that just warms our heart,” Dulworth said.