Sunset Park Temp Library Opens With Self-Serve Laptop Dispenser

SUNSET PARK, NY — An interim branch for the Sunset Park library opened up to the public on Fourth Avenue on Monday with the borough's first self-service laptop dispenser, officials said.

The 4201 Fourth Ave. branch, inside a landmarked courthouse which serves as Community Board 7's headquarters, will temporarily replace the 5108 Fourth Ave. location while its shuttered for a redevelopment project, the Brooklyn Library said.

"Sunset Park is one big step closer to getting the modern and more useful library our community envisioned," Councilman Carlos Menchaca said in a statement. "The newly opened interim space at Sunset Park’s historic courthouse gives us everything we wanted and will be staffed by our long-cherished local librarians."

Aside from being a place to borrow books during the closure, the temporary branch includes movable shelfs and furniture, an events room and a pilot program for dispensers for patrons to check out laptops from the library.

Officials closed the Sunset Park library last month so crews can start work on a new, eight-story building with apartments on top to replace it, officials said. It's expected to reopen in 2020.

The city approved the redevelopment of the library, which will add 49 affordable housing apartments above it, last year. The land was sold to the Fifth Avenue Committee for the development, who plan to sell the library back to the city for $1 and own the apartments above it.

Image courtesy of BerlinRosen