Print

Twain Branch To Close For Move

Will Reopen At Hartford Public

By VANESSA DE LA TORRE

August 12, 2011

The Mark Twain Branch Library on Farmington Avenue will be shut down for the rest of the month as workers prepare for its move to Hartford Public High School on nearby Forest Street.

The library will close Saturday and won't reopen until 12:30 p.m. Sept. 1 in the school's Lewis Fox Media Center, where the branch will be for at least five years, according to a statement from the Hartford Public Library.

Ultimately, the plan is to relocate the branch to West Middle Elementary School on Asylum Avenue in 2016. The board of education approved a nearly $55 million renovation project for the school earlier this year that includes featuring the public library branch with its own entrance. The project, however, is heavily dependent on state funding.

Library hours at the high school will be 12:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday; 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; 12:30 to 5 p.m. Friday; and 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

Matt Poland, Hartford Public Library's chief executive officer, has said the library will add two extra security officers to the media center during school hours.

The existing branch has been in a small, leased storefront on Farmington Avenue, across from Taco Bell.