Mesa County Libraries Breaks Ground On New Clifton Branch
Rendering courtesy of RATIO Architect
Calling all Mesa County residents and book lovers! Mesa County Libraries has begun building a brand-new Clifton Branch with exciting new amenities to serve the community’s growing needs.
“The new library is 17,800 square feet, so it’s three times larger than the leased storefront location where the Clifton Branch is now,” shares library director Michelle Boisvenue-Fox. “It will have more study rooms, more meeting rooms, two community rooms and a separate space for kids and teens.” The new library is under construction at 3270 D 1/2 Road, just east of Rocky Mountain Elementary School.
Over the past few years, Mesa County Libraries has asked the townspeople what they desire from their library, and they are listening to the community’s response. Boisvenue-Fox explains that the new library will boast more technology, more programs (including ones inSpanish), space for kids and families, places for meetings and an emphasis on connection and learning.
Although some may argue that the prime of libraries has passed, Boisvenue-Fox feels differently and believes many in the community do, too. “Successful public libraries pivot and evolve to meet their community’s needs. We are the social connectors where people connect with others in the community,” she says. “All of this connection doesn’t require purchase of a product, and it has a positive effect on our community’s mental health. This doesn’t happen at other places in our community.”
The Clifton Library is embracing the needs of the county by implementing programs that suit its target demographic; the Adult Learning Center, for example, will be moved to the Clifton Branch, helping people earn their GED and learn English. Plus, to meet residents’ desire for after-school activities for kids, the library will be offering after-school snacks — a partnership with Food Bank of the Rockies — along with spaces to complete homework, work on projects, hang out, play board games or video games and partake in other planned library events.
Boisvenue-Fox is excited about the aesthetically beautiful kids’ space, which reminds her of Clifton’s Bookcliffs during golden hour.“ Mesa County is adding space for a childcare on the county campus where the library will also be located,” she adds. “The library will offer library cards to all children, regular story times and the ability to participate in summer reading, as well as 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten to benefit these kids before they begin their school years.”
Boisvenue-Fox expresses, “This new branch is being described by neighbors as a game changer for Clifton ... to offer after-school space for students, library services to child-care recipients and continuing GED and English language learning classes for adults is exciting. Supporting the Clifton Branch Library offers individuals an opportunity to support that change, which will have lifelong impacts on people and families.”
Completion and opening of the new Clifton Branch are expected in fall 2023. Visit mesacountylibraries.org to invest in Clifton’s future.
Originally published in the Winter 2022-23 issue of Spoke+Blossom.