WHITELAND — After nearly a year of construction, residents in Johnson County have a brand new library building with thousands of new books and media to check out.
The Johnson County Public Library opened the new Clark Pleasant branch building Saturday. It is located at 350 Clearwater Blvd, just off of US 31.
"You can tell when someone's walking in for the first time because they look around and they're truly impressed," branch manager Davin Kolderup said. "This is their library, the libraries are for everyone ... for them to come in and realize that this is their place to come to gather and socialize, to read, to come and gather with their kids ... is just really exciting."
Kolderup says they're hoping to meet the needs of patrons today while anticipating what needs there will be in the future. The branch had been in its previous location since 2003.
In addition to materials inside, the library has a nature trail and community garden, public art installations, Early Childhood Learning Zone, Teen Gaming Center with a Playstation 5 and an expanded Adult Learning Center (ALC). The ALC offers free tutoring services and English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction. There is also a laptop kiosk that allows patrons to go anywhere in the library to use it.
"To open the doors and see patrons come in and see how excited and happy they are to have this space reminds you why we're doing this," Kolderup said. "I think it's going to be a real game changer for the Whiteland/New Whiteland community."
The STEAM Zone Robotics Learning Lab is a brand new space for the Johnson County Public Library (JCPL) system. There will be programming there for all ages.
Anyone with a JCPL card has access to books, materials and programs within any library in their system (Trafalgar, White River in Greenwood and Franklin).
Beginning March 6, the library is open:
Mon-Thu 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Fri 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sat 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sun 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
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