It just keeps getting better Bay! And this time the good news is the Bay County Public Library moved into a newly constructed building at 898 W. 11th Street. This new location is conveniently located next to the new Bay County Administrative Building Site and walkable from the Downtown Panama City, Garden Club, and St. Andrews areas. The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony was held on Friday, May 16th and attendees were treated to refreshments, speeches and a look at the new facilities.

The new location has over 5500 square feet adding much needed space to the crowded former facility on the Panama City Marina which had only 2700 square feet. All new shelving was purchased by the Bay County Commission which gave the library 50% more shelving. This allowed for less crowding and for collections to be able to be shelved together. The old shelving did not allow for oversized books causing them to be kept in a separate area. Now in the new library these oversized books will fit on the shelves in the section in which they belong.

Staff used ideas from the Suggestion Box to help make the new library more appealing to its customers. Two drive-up book drops were placed in front of the main entrance allowing for convenient book return at any time. A coffee café area was incorporated into the lobby and drinks can be purchased during book store hours. Other new editions include a Young Adult Room and Used Book Store.

There are 21 computer stations and WI-FI is available throughout the library. With summer on top of us, the opening of the library came at just in time for the summer reading season!