The Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library‘s administrative staff now has a new home at the former Citizens Bank building in Downtown Willoughby. Renovating the building at 38115 Euclid Ave. started with the building being purchased in 2021 during the pandemic. At the time, the library system did not have it in their plans to buy a building for administrative offices as they were in the process then of beginning to plan for the renovation of the Eastlake Public Library. Related Articles Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library embarks on Citizens Bank renovation Library Director Eric Linderman said moving into the new building took place in a couple of stages last month. “We love it,” he said. “We had to keep some processes operating at Eastlake City Hall while we moved some people over, but it happened quickly. Within a couple weeks, we were over here. We rented space from Eastlake City Hall for about a decade and that worked well for us, but the remodeling of this place — we designed it for us.” The Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library's administrative staff now has a new home at the former Citizens Bank building in Downtown Willoughby. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)The Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library's administrative staff now has a new home at the former Citizens Bank building in Downtown Willoughby. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)The Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library's administrative staff now has a new home at the former Citizens Bank building in Downtown Willoughby. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)The Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library's administrative staff now has a new home at the former Citizens Bank building in Downtown Willoughby. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)The Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library's administrative staff now has a new home at the former Citizens Bank building in Downtown Willoughby. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)Show Caption1 of 5The Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library's administrative staff now has a new home at the former Citizens Bank building in Downtown Willoughby. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)Expand Willoughby Mayor Robert Fiala said the new building is a significant investment in the city and he hopes the library can continue to grow. “We can’t be more happy of the library to be here and make their home here not only as the library, but also their administrative offices,” he said. The new building houses offices for materials and processing where new books come in to be catalogued, as well as labeled. “We’re a part of an efficient, regional system where we share books with many other libraries and we’re a major hub for doing that,” Linderman said. “I also want to point out the public space we created with this area.” Linderman has been working in public libraries since 1998 and noted that libraries have departments that do a lot of work behind the scenes. Not only is the new building an opportunity to celebrate, but also an opportunity to showcase the behind the scenes work. “There’s a lot the general public might not know that happens with public library work behind the scenes,” he said. “It’s critical to have space. We’re going to have a great time here.” Going forward, the library is going to start hosting Willoughby Public Library’s programming in the public space in the new building. Additionally, the library plans to utilize the property’s green space in the front for the Willoughby ArtsFest. Linderman said it’s been a pleasure working with the Willoughby Western Lake County Chamber of Commerce who leads the ArtsFest. “The green space is a big part of that,” he said. “Our library provides storage programming for the ArtsFest and for a lot of other things throughout the year.” The library will also have a grant-funded rain garden, a project with Chagrin River Watershed Partners. “It’s going to be an educational garden for children, so a lot of exciting things happening inside and outside this building,” Linderman said. ...read more read less