Trending libraries

‘Reading rooms’ evolve into community hotspots

By Linda Haymes

Posted: December 9, 2012 at 2:44 a.m.

Rick McFarland Jeff Baskin (right), executive director of the William F. Laman Public Library System, leads members of the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce upstairs in the old post office on Main Street in North Little Rock. The library purchased the building in September and plans to renovate it to serve as its Argenta branch library, currently housed in the city’s old fire station nearby.

For decades, the mention of libraries conjured up images of dim, windowless spaces filled with dusty tomes overseen by stern librarians where the No. 1 rule was “Quiet Please!” and any patron who dared break the sounds of silence was quickly shushed.

William F. Laman Library

The William F. Laman Library has bought the old U.S. Post Office in North Little Rock and will be converting it into a new Argenta Branch Library. Jeff Baskin, executive director of Laman, led a tour of the building. (By Rick McFarland)
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Style, Pages 45 on 12/09/2012