Sloan public library celebrates grand opening - KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

After years of serving shoppers, one Northwest Iowa community's grocery store is now satisfying its town's appetite for reading.

Sloan, Iowa knew it needed a larger library, but couldn't afford to build new. It jumped at the chance to fill the aisles of this former grocery store with books.           

A month after opening its doors to the public for the first time, residents cut the ribbon on the project.

Library officials say they're seeing big benefits.

"They've already brought classes from school over, which they never could have done in our old site, just because of our limitations. So, just this physical space offers us so much more opportunities than we had before," said Jen Drees, president of the Sloan Library Board.

The 7,000 square foot facility has extra space devoted to teenagers and pre-teens.

Initially, building estimates approached $1 million, but it ended up costing half that much and has four times more space as the old building.           

That's music to the ears of both children and adults.  

"My daughter, as a child, she loves coming to the library. But then, as an adult, you know, now that we have the big facility to come to, that's great also for adults," said Eutana Kaufman of Sloan, Iowa.

Sloan's library is open five days a week.