Book 'em, Dan-o!

Today was the day. Prescott Valley's sparkling new library had its grand opening.

The exterior apparently will maintain it's rusty look but it is complemented by shiny steel.

Inside, here is the children's area. Brightly lighted thanks to the huge windows and warm with the look of wood on one wall and the ceiling.

The center of the building is open to a roof above the second floor and with the combination of wood and steel, it reminded me of the downtown library in Seattle, though on a smaller scale. From the second floor balcony, there are great views down to the main floor.

I imagine those cubes will hold even more books once the library is complete.

There's a beautiful lounge in front of windows looking toward the town office building.

The smaller building to one side will house offices and classrooms for Yavapai College and Northern Arizona University. There's an enclosed walkway from one building to the other on the second floor.

The library building also houses a large new room for town council meetings.

In the front lobby there is a small cafe, which was doing a land office business today with free Italian cookies.

Here's a view of the back of the building.

And one last look up.

I'm still not hooked on the outside look of the place but it grew a little more on me today as I toured the building. But I love the interior and I suspect many of the thousands of people that attended the grand opening today will as well.

The contractor has said he still has a couple of weeks of work left to finish the buildings. But the library is open for business once again.