Old Library Gets New, Uh, Reading Room

Patrons no longer have to go somewhere else when they, er, have to go.

By Rebecca Smith Hurd, Newser User

Posted Nov 21, 2008 3:48 PM CST

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Old Library Gets New, Uh, Reading Room — Librarian Susan D'Amico stands in the doorway of the new bathroom at the Roxbury Free Library in Vermont. For decades, when library patrons had to go, they really had to go%u2014somewhere else, that is. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

The library in Roxbury, Vt., installed wireless Internet ages ago, and last week finally caught up with 20th-century technology by adding indoor plumbing. “I used to say, ‘We’re the Wi-Fi library without a pot to p--- in,’” the library director tells the AP. Since 1934, patrons who needed a restroom had to take their business elsewhere, such as the church next door.

“Every so often, we have to knock after an hour or so, and when the doors open, it's someone who's been reading a book,” the church deacon says. Not anymore. The library now has its own toilet, and it will soon have a sink, too. Please check your books and laptops at the door.
(More library stories.)

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