18 months since deadly floods turned the small Walloon town of Pepinster into a crisis zone, the severely damaged community library is gradually returning to its pre-disaster rhythm. In response to reader demand, it opened doors for the first time on Saturday since the floods. To mark the occasion, the team offered coffee and snacks to readers.
Saturday's opening is another step for the community towards its reconstruction. In July 2021, the rising waters destroyed almost the entire collection of about 20,000 books. It was only in September that the library was able to reopen in a new location close to the municipal administration.
“From today, we are open again on Saturdays, adding two hours to our schedule. We hope in the future to extend them; we used to open four hours on Saturdays,” explains Martine Meertens, head librarian. Meertens explained that there had been visible demand for the library and spoke of welcoming old faces: “we saw people we hadn't met since the floods, it meets a need for meeting and sociability.”
To rebuild its collection, the library relied on donations from other libraries, the province, Belgian publishers and associations. A firm in Antwerp donated new furniture.
“We are also buying everything slowly. We now have between 2,000 and 3,000 books; when someone asks us for a title, if we don’t have it we buy it or we borrow it from another library,” Meertens explained.
The current premises are temporary with the service expected to move at some point to the future to the former Providence school nearby. The building housing the former library will be demolished.
