Today, the Galena Branch Crew is taking over the staff blog. We would like to introduce you to our little corner of the library world!

The Galena Digital Branch of the Floyd County Library System has been open since September 2018. Even though we are situated in an old house built way back in 1843, we are able to fit a Children’s Corner, a Reading Room, a reservable Conference Room, and a Makerspace inside this branch. Our Makerspace is full of neat machines, like a 3D printer, a laser engraver, and sewing machines, to get your creative juices flowing. Don’t forget the lovely green space we use to host lots of larger, outdoor events. We have a lot of outdoor programs planned for the summer, so keep an eye on the Library calendar.

In case you are wondering what a “Digital” branch is, you are not alone! That is one of our most asked questions. While we do have some books in this branch, the emphasis is on our available technology. We have laptops, iPads, and Chromebooks available for use inside the building. We also have the awesome machines in our Makerspace, and our coding robots that just make us a bit more digital than your average library branch. And we are happy to help you set up your Library e-book apps like Libby and Hoopla.

We do have a small browsing collection; since we are a cozy little branch, we only have room for about 700 books on our shelves. We add new books and rotate the collection regularly from our New Albany Central location to try to have new titles on the shelves for you to discover. When patrons want to pick up their holds or return books at the Galena Branch, the books travel by transit van once a day between the two buildings.

Currently, we are offering only curbside services due to the branch’s small size, which makes it difficult to allow for social distancing. This means that our conference room space, browsing collection, and our Makerspace classes and machines are temporarily unavailable to the public. We are planning to resume these activities soon! But don’t despair: patrons can pick up their holds and activity kits from the comfort of their vehicles. We can also help with faxing and printing. Faxing is free and printing costs 10 cents per black and white page and 25 cents per color just like at the Central Branch in New Albany.

Keep an eye out for our Summer Programs and your chance to check out the Galena Digital Branch!