DINUBA – The local library is temporarily setting up shop in the Dinuba Transit Center twice a week as it waits for construction on its branch location to wrap up.

Tulare County Library patrons can now visit the transit center for in-person services on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Set up in the transit center’s conference room, librarian and regional manager Stephanie Buckridge said the temporary location has a limited collection available for checkouts, and patrons can also place holds and return items there.

“We offer check outs, storytime, crafts, adult book club, monthly Friends (of the Library) group meetings, and will be starting a teen program in October,” Buckridge said.

Library services in Dinuba will be available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, with a closure from 1-2 p.m. for lunch. The Dinuba Transit Center is located at 180 East Merced St. The space is also available for community members to “come in and study comfortably in a cool environment,” Buckridge said.

The Dinuba Branch Library has been closed since the beginning of the year for a remodel, which is about 65% complete. The temporary location in the transit center will be open until the library moves back into their official space, which they anticipate will be ready in early spring 2024.

Buckridge said the remodel of the library will be a “complete transformation of the space,” with updates to the utilities, community room and restrooms and an expansion of the children’s area, computer area and young adult space.

According to the Tulare County Library website, the Dinuba Branch Library location was built in 1975. The first branch was set up in 1910 shortly after the creation of the county library system inside the Dopkins Furniture store, which later became the still-standing Dopkins Funeral Home. After multiple location changes, the library operated out of a location built by Carnegie Foundation funds, aptly named the Carnegie Library, from 1916 to 1975, when the present-day location was built and the former demolished.

Since the branch location closure, the library has been operating out of the Tulare County Library’s bookmobile Pop Up and hosting events in different community spaces around Dinuba. Buckridge said the Dinuba Parks and Community Services Department helped host their summer reading program in June, and the Dinuba Parenting Network hosted family summer reading program events, a teen youth group and their toddler educational program.

“Recently, the city of Dinuba reached out to offer the transit center as a temporary space until the remodel is complete, and we are very thankful,” Buckridge said. “The community has been wonderful and very understanding.”

The branch library has also worked with the Dinuba Senior Center to host monthly programs geared toward adults and moved the adult book club meetings to the Orosi Branch Library for the time being.

“The Dinuba Friends group meets at a local restaurant and a book drop is available in the Dinuba Chamber of Commerce parking lot where we provided Pop Up library services at the chamber since January,” Buckridge said.

Buckridge said that the nearby Orosi, London and Ivanhoe branches of the Tulare County Library are also open an additional day each week during the Dinuba branch closure to help accommodate patrons.

The Ivanhoe branch is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; the London branch is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; and the Orosi branch is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. All three branches also close for an hour at 1 p.m. every day.

For further updates and a full schedule of activities, visit the Dinuba Branch Library’s Facebook page.