Nineteen locations of the Houston Public Library will open their doors September 5 through September 9 to offer Houstonians a little respite from the daunting task of surveying damage and moving forward in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.
In addition to the always free Wi-Fi, the public can enjoy yoga classes, “a mountain of family friendly stories, movies, games, crafts, and other activities,” “one-on-one assistance with filling out applications and forms,” or even just taking advantage of “quiet spaces…to reflect or just to escape for a moment,” according to a Houston Public Library press release.
“There is no question that libraries are essential to rebuilding our community,” Director of Libraries Rhea Brown Lawson said in the release. “For so many people libraries are a vital lifeline. We intend to leverage the vast resources of Houston Public Library to support recovery efforts in every way possible. This is our community too. During catastrophic times libraries are even more essential as people need a familiar anchor and touchstone in the community to remind them that everything will be all right again.”
Library archivists will also be on hand to lend their expertise in “preserving and saving precious family memorabilia such as books, letters and photographs that may have been damaged in the storm,” according to the release.
And in case you’re one of those perennial overdue-book bandits, HPL wants you to know that “Due dates have been extended for currently borrowed books and other items to Friday, September 29th. As a reminder, you can return borrowed items to the library most convenient to you anywhere in the city.”
The following locations will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.:
Acres Homes Neighborhood Library, 8501 West Montgomery
Bracewell Neighborhood Library, 9002 Kingspoint
Carnegie Neighborhood Library & Center for Learning, 1050 Quitman
Central Library Floor, 500 McKinney
Collier Neighborhood Library, 6200 Pinemont
Dixon Neighborhood Library, 8002 Hirsch
Heights Neighborhood Library, 1302 Heights Boulevard
Henington-Alief Neighborhood Library, 7979 South Kirkwood
HIllendahl Neighborhood Library, 2436 Gessner
HPLX Southwest, 6400 High Star
Jungman Neighborhood Library, 5830 Westheimer
Oak Forest Neighborhood Library, 1349 West 43rd
Park Place Regional Library, 8145 Park Place
Ring Neighborhood Library, 8835 Long Point
Stanaker Neighborhood Library, 611 S-Sgt. Macario Garcia
Stimley-Blue Ridge Neighborhood Library, 7007 West Fuqua
Tuttle Neighborhood Library, 702 Kress
Vinson Neighborhood Library, 3810 West Fuqua
Young Neighborhood Library, 5107 Griggs
Check houstonlibrary.org on when additional library locations open and opening hours. Updates will also be posted on Facebook/houstonlibrary, Twitter/houstonlibrary and Instagram/houstonpubliclibrary.
This article appears in Aug 31 – Sep 6, 2017.
