By Susan Fisher, PR Supervisor at Muncie Public Library—
MUNCIE, IN—Muncie Public Library (MPL) continued its yearlong celebration of a remarkable 150 years of service recently with an anniversary event held at Connection Corner on Saturday, July 12. Included in the festivities was a surprise unveiling of a new name for the MPL branch located in the Whitely community. The party was attended by more than 250 community members and representatives of local organizations who shared information, distributed free books, and provided fun activities such as hair styling, face painting, a bounce house, dunk tank, and more. Live music was provided by America’s Hometown Band Jazz Combo led by Dr. George Wolfe.
MPL Director Alan Kornblau, joined by several members of the MPL Board of Trustees, shared the branch’s rich history during the unveiling. In comments to those assembled, Kornblau shared that the library location originally opened in 1978 as the Centennial Branch. Later, it was renamed to honor the work of Mrs. Vivian Conley, a local Civil Rights leader and a champion of education.
“Due to property tax caps and budget cuts to the library in 2009, MPL made the difficult decision to close the Conley Branch,” explained Kornblau. “A few years later, funding for a technology center was given to MPL and the funds were used to reopen this branch as a high-tech center to serve the community. At that time, MPL asked the Vivian Conley family if we could name the technology center in honor of Vivian, but they had already established their own group, the Friends of Vivian Conley, to honor her legacy,” said Kornblau.
According to library documents, the newly opened technology branch was named Connection Corner to reflect both its physical location at the corner of Elgin Street and Centennial Avenue, and its mission to connect the community with digital and emerging technologies.
In January of this year, Connection Corner Manager Tenisha Harris shared with the MPL Board that many in the community were unaware of this unique branch or even knew that it was part of the Muncie Public Library system. Given this, the trustees voted to rename the branch as the Centennial Library. The new name reflects the historical name, the branch location on Centennial Ave., and labels it as part of the MPL library system. In his comments, Kornblau said, “The new name also gives a nod to this special anniversary year, our 150thanniversary, known as a sesquicentennial.”
Following his comments, Kornblau was joined by several trustees to remove the tarp and unveil the new name.
The final anniversary party of the library’s sesquicentennial will be held on Thursday, November 6 at Carnegie Library as part of Muncie Downtown’s First Thursday. The event will feature a variety of activities, music, and refreshments. The event will be free and open to the public. A library card is never required for programs and events at MPL. Find out more on the library website at www.munpl.org.
