The Sugar Creek Branch hosted an open house on May 6 to show off some recent improvements.  

The storefront library, situated between a dental office and a gutter installation business, opened in 1996 and serves the residents of Sugar Creek and western Independence, Missouri.

Branch Manager Ruth Stephens says patrons and staff welcomed the changes, including a new layout for the front room that allows “more light to come through the shelves, which makes book browsing a much nicer experience.” 

Stephens says the holds shelf is now located near the entrance so patrons “can pop in, grab their items, and go!” In addition, staff moved the audiovisual collection, the branch's highest-circulating items, into the front area, boosting its accessibility.  

“The collection now flows smoothly around the exterior walls,” she says, “and is very easy for patrons to browse.” 

Other changes include more breathing room between the public computers and the reading area for newspapers and magazines, a consolidated children’s area with small seating, and a new space for the teen collection with a seating area. The removal of shelving also created a larger area to host Library programming. 

Community demand prompted the addition of the Sugar Creek location in the 1990s.  

A storefront library in Fairmount shopping mall closed in 1989, and after seven years without one, residents petitioned the Library’s board of trustees. Voters approved an 11-cent increase in the Library’s property tax levy in June 1996, so the board could act quickly and open a new Sugar Creek Branch.

A Village Post Office, operated in partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, is also on site, which mails packages, sells stamps, and offers post office boxes.