renovation

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate our renovated children’s area!

Have you visited the newly renovated children’s area at our Main Branch yet?

We celebrated the upgrades with a ribbon cutting (and cake!) earlier this week.

The second floor of our Main Branch now features:

• a larger play area with two new play tables, new toys and puppets
• new shelving (with toys on the end caps)
• new furniture
• newly painted walls

Come check them out soon if you haven’t already.

See you at the library.

Our renovated Children’s Area has more room for reading, reflecting, and relaxing.

Make sure to visit our Children’s Area and first floor Media Room the next time you visit our Main Branch. Both have been renovated recently.

Our Media Room offers improved décor, shelving, and new seating.

And we’ve replaced the furniture, added a lounge area for families, and upgraded the play area in the Children’s Area on our second floor.

We want to thank you all for your patience while we renovated. It’s a pleasure and privilege to be your community library.

By the way, changes are coming to our Mentor-on-the-Lake Branch this year, as well. The branch is expanding and adding The Beryl B. Paulson Annex and Meeting Room. The new meeting room will seat up to 60, allowing for more and larger programming at the branch. Discover how a generous donation from Francis “Bud” Paulson is making this possible and how you can also support the Lake Branch’s growth.

The new annex means the Mentor-on-the-Lake Branch can host more and bigger programs for the community.

In honor of Paulson’s support, the new annex and meeting room will be named after his wife.

Beryl Paulson and Francis “Bud” Paulson passed away in 2005 and 2017, respectively. They actively used and supported Mentor Public Library throughout their lives.

Francis Paulson served on the library’s Board of Trustees from 1958 to 1966. His tenure included several important events for Mentor Public Library, including:

• The expansion of the library’s Main Branch on Mentor Avenue
• The establishment of the first branch in Mentor-on-the-Lake
• The acquisition of the Headlands Branch from the Fairport Harbor Public Library
• The separation of Mentor Public Library from the school system.

Need a quiet place to study? Check out one of the new study rooms at our Main Branch.

Our Main Branch now has study rooms available to individuals or small groups who need a quiet place to gather and work.

We do have a few rules for the rooms. The big ones are:

1. The rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis. You have to be at the library to request their use. No reservations by phone.
2. To accommodate as many patrons as possible, study rooms are available for a 2-hour period per group.
3. No operating a business from the room.
4. The study rooms are kept locked. If you want to use one, tell our librarians. They’ll either open one for you or — if a room is not available — put you on the day’s schedule, if possible.
5. The rooms are intended for quiet study. Please mute or set your phones to silent, and use headphones when applicable.

Click here for the full list of rules.

The study rooms are just one of the new additions from our recent renovation.

We also added more electrical outlets, moved and refurnished our teen area, and replaced carpeting and furniture that was about 30 years old.