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PAST NEWS ARCHIVE
May 7, 2001
Contact: Patricia Fraga, Austin Public Library, (512) 974-7528
Fax: (512) 974-7442

RIVERSIDE DRIVE BRANCH REOPENED

The Riverside Drive Branch of the Austin Public Library, 2410 East Riverside Drive, reopened on Monday, May 7. The Branch Library has been closed for four months for renovation work. The library staff is excited about the reopening and is ready to provide a wide range of services to the community.

Riverside Drive Branch serves a diverse community in many specific areas of its collection of 38,000 volumes. The library has an extensive collection of materials in Spanish for children and adults, a core collection of materials on career and job-related topics, adult basic education, and language and literacy resources for the members of the community who do not speak English. The Periodicals Section is heavily used and has 110 titles with 15 in Spanish. For the senior members of the community there is a well-rounded collection of mystery novels, large type and self-help topics, and for the student population there is information on grants, college guides, computer topics, and extracurricular reading that is in great demand.

The programs and services offered by the Riverside Drive Branch are many and include: a Job Information Center; VICTORY Tutorial Program, a service that coaches students who are having difficulties with their schoolwork; an Internet Training Center; the Austin Mystery Book Club; Opportunities for Youth Program, a community outreach service designed to encourage youth to visit the library; Tax Counseling for the Elderly and the Annual Mexican Posada, which is an annual event in December.

During the summer months the library will Present the Summer Reading Program, "To the Library and Beyond!," beginning on Monday, June 4. Also on June 4, the VICTORY Tutorial Program will resume for the summer. The Mystery Book Club will reconvene on Wednesday, June 13, and Internet classes will be offered again starting Saturday, May 19 (call branch for details at 512/448-0776).

Last year the Riverside Drive Branch served over 80,000 customers with over 150 adult programs, and over 200 children's programs. Internet usage at the library was active with over 10,000 using the computer centers. Elissa Ballesteros, Managing Librarian, invites the community back and is looking forward to providing all these services and more to the Riverside Drive community.

Visit the Library's Web site at http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/ for information about APL services systemwide.

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