Clio Area Library
At This Branch:
- All Scheduled Events
- Children's Area - 1 Children's Computer
- Copy Machine
- Fax Service
- Public Computer Stations (8 stations)
- Wireless Network Available
- Branch History
Photo Gallery
Library Address - Get Driving Directions
G-2080 W. Vienna Rd
Clio, MI 48420
Phone: 810-686-7130
New Branch Hours(Effective 8/16/2010)
Mon & Wed: 12 noon - 8 pm;
Tues & Thurs: 10 am - 6 pm
Fri & Sun: Closed; Sat: 9 am - 5 pm
Branch History
GDL's Clio Area Branch will have served its community from its current location for 30 years by the end of 2008. An impressive milestone in and of itself, it is even more remarkable considering for the first 35 years of its existence it was almost continuously in search of a new home.
The library, which also bears the distinction of being the first branch to join the county library system, first opened in an old barbershop in Clio's main business district on July 15, 1943 with 500 books. Two years later, it relocated to the old city services complex on Mill Street, and just five years after that to the new city offices on Center Street.
In 1956, the library was combined with the Clio High School Library. Then, in 1966, it was forced to close because the school no longer had space for it. Thanks largely to the efforts of the newly organized Clio Library Board it was able to reopen in a vacant church on New Street during the summer of 1967.
Finally, in 1978, after the building was renovated to house both it and a senior citizens center, the library settled down for good on the first floor of the former Pine Run School on West Vienna Road. At long last, it had found a place where it could change and grow without changing address.
With 4,000 square feet, Clio is one of the few libraries in the system big enough to have a separate children's room and the only one with a mural of favorite characters from children's literature covering an entire wall.
It also boasts a large multimedia collection of about 45,000 items, about 4,500 of which are DVDs. Plus, it has access to GDL's wireless computer network and eight public access computers equipped with GDL's high-speed Internet connection and popular computer programs like Microsoft Office Suite. In addition, it has one computer for library catalog browsing only and another for children's educational games and activities only. A fax machine, a copy machine and study tables are available as well.
On the second floor of the building, vacated by the senior center in 2007, there is a large room for library programs, a craft room, a meeting room, and a kitchen.
Clio also has a branch librarian who was the 2006 recipient of GDL's Richard Handwerker Customer Service Award for Outstanding Dedication and Performance.
Librarianship is a second career for Darwin McGuire, who insists his is "the best GDL branch at which to work." With a bachelor's degree in political science from Central Michigan University, Darwin spent 20 years as an administrator for senior citizen meal programs in the Thumb and Midland area before getting a master's degree in library studies from Wayne State University.
Darwin says his biggest challenge at Clio is trying to "pack a lot of content into a relatively small space." His favorite part of his job, he says, "is helping students with research."
"It gives me great satisfaction to lead people to the immense resources GDL offers in both print and electronic format," he adds.
Married to a school media specialist, Darwin's work inevitably follows him home. "Our children think we are crazy because we debate the Dewey Decimal System over dinner," he laughs.
Counting among his hobbies riding motorcycles and restoring old cars, Darwin says he is also your man if you need help using the Mitchell's online automobile repair database to which GDL subscribes.
The Clio Area Branch is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Darwin and his staff welcome the chance to show you how much they and their predecessors have improved the library's offerings in the last three decades without having to move them to yet another location.
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Flint, MI 48504
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