By Md Fazlur Rahman
Downtown Reno might be known for casinos where you mostly lose your fortunes. But there is one place in the city where you can start building your fortunes by acquiring knowledge: The Downtown Reno Library.
Built in 1966, the library is an architectural gem serving as the urban hub of the library system. Architect Hewitt Wills couldn’t put the library in the park as he wished. So the library was made as park like as possible. Featuring hundreds of plants, several full grown trees and a pond with a fountain and audiovisual materials, including DVDs and books on the city, according to the website of the library.
The centrally located library serves the downtown, residential and business community with a variety of services public Wi-Fi, laser reading, computers with internet access.
During interviews with the Reynolds School of Journalism recently, the manager of the library talked about the facilities while visitors spoke about how they accessed them.
Brent Collamer, the manager of the library, said although the library was set up nearly six decades ago, the design is still the same. The plants are all original.
“We offer services to all people, all ages of economic levels,” he said. “We have all sorts of people. We have people that are looking for places to hang out and stay. We also have people that have million-dollar homes and million-dollar businesses coming in,” said Collamer.
“We have people coming in during work and after work. We have study areas. We have an auditorium that’s available for anybody who wants to reserve it. We have a meeting room that’s available for anybody that wants to reserve it. We have a piano that is used almost daily by different people. Sometimes we have piano recitals.”
The official said programs for both adults and children are available. “We have book clubs on Wednesday afternoon. On Wednesday mornings, we have the community court where they actually hold court and provide services to people such as finding housing or jobs.”
Kelly Brighton is one of the readers who went there to check out books. The mother of two has recently relocated from Southern California and has just received her card for the library last month.
An employee of US Bank, Brighton said cardholders can borrow books for three weeks. “Then they send you a reminder to return them.”
At the library, some students from the University of Nevada, Reno were also found. They said they also like it because it is quiet.
Matty O’Neill, a sophomore at the public health department at the UNR, said she did not check out books since she likes to read digital ones. She was there last month with one of her friends.
Not all of the visitors went to the library to study or check out books. There are people who are there just because it’s a quiet place, making it a perfect place to relax.
Michael Geiger, an employee of Amazon, said he comes to the library occasionally. “It’s a good library. Quiet. I like that.”
Whether you live in Reno or are just visiting, you can stop by and appreciate the Downtown Reno Library and all it has to offer.
