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# Library branches to fill with bookworms
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/library-branches-to-fill-with-bookworms/
- Published: 2005-12-07T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T08:16:19.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: local, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*New library focused on housing people over books*

*By JASMIN PERSCH Special to the Daily Press*

Another chapter has ended in the storied tale of Santa Monica’s book scene now that the temporary library has permanently shut down.

City officials on Monday closed the book on the temporary library, which has been open since the Main Library was knocked down in 2003 to make way for a larger one.

So bookworms will be without a main hub until Jan. 7, when the new 104,000-square-foot library opens at 601 Santa Monica Blvd.

The temporary library closed more than a month before the new one is scheduled to open because the collection that was housed there must be transferred to the new facility and re-integrated on the shelves, said city librarian Greg Mullen. Those materials include books, CDs, DVDs and tapes, which were in high demand and were kept available to the public as a result.

The rest of the collection — about 80 percent of it — has been in storage since 2003, Mullen said.

Mullen said he expects more people to flock to the city’s three branch libraries — Fairview, Montana Avenue and Ocean Park — over the holidays, increasing circulation and clogging library counters. Some staff members from the temporary library have been reassigned to branch libraries to help handle the influx of people, he added.

The branch libraries don’t have collections with the same depth as the Main Library, but they offer some of the same materials, Mullen said.

Other than having a smaller volume of materials available, the branch libraries offer people the same services the temporary library did, he said.

People can drop off items at the temporary library, 1324 Fifth St., until the end of December. Materials also can be taken to the return slots on the ground level of the new Main Library, as well as to any of the three branches.

The telephone reference line will still be in service, but it may be temporarily interrupted during the move, Mullen said.

When the new Main Library opens, it will offer space for reading, research and studying with meeting rooms, wireless access, a large computer room and a 10,000-square-foot central courtyard.

Mullen said the old library had dim lighting and focused on housing books, not people.

“This library takes a different approach to libraries,” he said. “It houses people and accommodates collections.”

The new library might open earlier than anticipated.

Mullen said city staff are planning to have a “soft opening” after New Year’s and before the grand opening.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 7, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/120705.pdf?ref=smdp.com)