Grand Opening at the Slover Memorial Library

The grand opening at the brand new Slover Memorial Library in downtown Norfolk was this past weekend. We probably should have waited until the crowds died down a little to check it out, but couldn't resist the chance to participate in all of the opening day festivities so we fought our way in. As I said, the crowds were intense, but we were still able to see enough of the place to realize that the Slover is going to be an awesome destination for kid-friendly activities.

I think the thing I liked the best about the new library was the space itself -- Slover takes up the old 1897 Seaboard building, with a beautiful new modern addition melded on. There were lots of beautiful archways and plaster details melded with abstract sculptures on the inside and outside of the building. And then there were the books -- in addition to a stash of over 160,000 books, Slover offers a technology center, cafe, ebook station, and is home to the Sargent Memorial Collection, a collection of books, photographs, documents and other materials relating to Norfolk history. A huge youth library takes up a wing of the second floor.

We browsed in the new book section and upstairs in the youth library, but the lines were too long to tempt us to take any of them home that day. Anouk did test out the play area and the tumble area, with lots of soft foam shapes to climb on. We also met with Slover's mascot, posed with the Cat in the Hat, who was in attendance, and watched a dance group perform in the atrium. We can't wait to go back and see more.

To read more about upcoming storytimes and events at Slover Library, click here.