![]() It also offers a wide variety of programs for children, teens and adults year-round. To keep up with the community’s need for new and constantly changing technologies, the library also offers 23 computers for public use (including 2 for children), fax and copy service, free Wi-Fi and a scanner machine. It also has subscriptions to 48 magazine titles and four newspapers. Since opening at its present location in 1973, the library’s borrowing collection has grown to include about 104,000 items, including approximately 90,000 books, 2,200 audiobooks, 1,300 music CDs, and 9,400 DVDs and Blu-rays. The renovation and expansion of the library was completed in 2015. Funding came from a $375,175 donation from the Claffey Trust Fund, a $10,000 grant from the Grand Blanc Community Fund and donations by individual residents. The community partners who worked together to make the improvements possible included the Grand Blanc District Library Commission, the Friends of the McFarlen Library, the Mideastern Michigan Library Cooperative and the City and Township of Grand Blanc. In 2014 community partnerships made it possible to renovate and expand the children’s room by an additional 570 square feet, build a new 470-square-foot storage room, relocate and enlarge the computer area and design a more open and engaging floor plan. Bourke II, who served as Grand Blanc District Library Commission Chairperson from 1998 until 2011. The children’s room is named in honor of Michael J. Both the City and Township of Grand Blanc provided the necessary funding for the addition. Also included in the addition was a conference room which could seat up to 12 people, two private study rooms and a periodical storage area. Bolo, in whose honor the business center was named, served as Grand Blanc Library Commission chairperson from 1979 until 1998. Business Center opened Novemin a 2,000-square-foot addition to the library. In 1983 the first computer for public use at the library, an Apple, was donated by the friends group. It also included a community room with a seating capacity of 75 people for library programs and other events. films, 8-track tapes, records and a variety of magazines. The largest branch in the county library system, the new library had a borrowing collection of approximately 45,000 books as well as 8 mm. Funding for the library came from a 1.5 tax mill levy passed in 1970, grants from both the Federal Library Services and Construction Act and the DeWaters Charitable Trust fund, and donations by individual residents. It was named the McFarlen Public Library after the Joseph McFarlen family, which donated the 2.5 acre site on which it was built. In 1969 a friends group, which remains active today under the name Friends of the McFarlen Library, was organized to help raise funds for library improvements.Īfter years of fundraising and planning, a new 12,000 square-foot public library building opened on Augat the current location on Perry Road. In 1968, under the leadership of its chairperson Arthur Letts, the board which governed library matters at that time spearheaded a campaign to build a new library, which could house a larger borrowing collection than its tiny Township Hall location could. It was housed in a room in the old Township Hall on Grand Blanc Road. On Januthe Grand Blanc Library joined the Genesee County Library (now known as the Genesee District Library). On August 17 the Grand Blanc Library Board met with county library officials to discuss the proposal. On Jthe various governmental units supporting the Grand Blanc Library met to prepare a proposal for joining the Genesee County Library. It is not known how long the branch lasted. It was housed in a room at Grand Blanc High School.Ī branch of the Grand Blanc Library was opened in a cleaner’s window near the post office in 1945, with about 500 books available for checkout. Although it was called the Grand Blanc Township Library, it received financial support from the city, township and school district of Grand Blanc. The second public library in Grand Blanc was established on July 24, 1939. In 1869 the Grand Blanc Ladies Library Association organized the first public library in the Grand Blanc area. The group has a continuous book sale on a cart in the lobby.
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