MERIDIAN, Idaho — After a few years of planning, the Meridian Library District debuted their new library branch, Orchard Park.
Monday's grand opening drew hundreds of people to the district's newest addition. Branch manager, Travis Porter, says the need for a new library was apparent as the city of Meridian grows. The need was especially apparent in the north side of the city.
“It’s our first time," said Amanda Stafford. She is a mom who brought her family to the branch on Wednesday. "We’ve been very excited though. We’ve been watching the progression for months, very excited to have a library close by.”
Not only does the library offer books and internet access, it tries to do so accessibly so that patrons from all walks of life can enjoy the library's services.
One of the big additions is a sensory room. Sensory rooms are used to help tend to the needs of people who are neurodiverse. The room is quieter than the rest of the building and has tons of fidget toys and other tools to engage people in different ways.
Porter views the library as ever-evolving, hoping that the library can continue to grow to support the needs of its patrons.
“We don’t consider that we’re done," Porter said. "Now the community comes in and they tell us what works, what doesn’t work, what they want, and what we can improve."
This is a positive note for the library district which has been under some scrutiny this year. In February, a group called the Concerned Citizens of Meridian filed a petition to dissolve the library district over content they said was inappropriate being available to minors.
The petition was accepted by the Ada County Board of Commissioners. After they heard public comment they decided not to put the decision on the ballot.
RELATED | Meridian Library District will not face dissolution on the November ballot
There were also a handful of bills that went through the Idaho Legislature this session that dealt with the content available in libraries. The only one that made it to Governor Brad Little's desk was vetoed, but came within one vote of being overturned.
RELATED | Controversial Library Bill barely maintains veto status
Idaho News 6 asked Porter if it felt like a victory to open the library after all the events.
“For sure! It’s a win," Porter said. "Even if that didn’t happen it’s a huge win for us.”
