By JESSICA DAIGLE

Staff Reporter

GARYVILLE — The Garyville Library will be open to the St. John reading public just a few weeks past what was originally planned, according to Randy DeSoto, the St. John Parish Library director.

Desoto said he expects the library construction to be completed by the end of this month, with an opening shortly after Labor Day. He said it could have opened earlier, but there was a delay in the delivery of some furniture.

“Then we don’t want to close the library during school so we can move all the supplies from the other library,” DeSoto said, referring to the original Garyville Library, ” So we’re going to wait until after Labor Day.”

The original library, a 1600 square foot structure, is located just around the corner from where the new one is being built.

The new Garyville Library, which is 5,550 square feet, will feature a 620 square foot education room, and is designed in the fashion of a historic train station.

The library originally began as a $835,000 project, but, according to Councilman Allen St. Pierre, it has gone over that slightly.

“When the bids came in, it was a little bit over budget,” St. Pierre said, “But we had room to make it.” Of that budget, $800,000 comes from a parish budget, with the rest of the money coming out of a library budget.

The groundbreaking for the library was held in September of last year. St. Pierre, who reportedly had a huge part in making sure Garyville attained the library said he is excited about the opening.

“Garyville is really looking forward to it,” he said, “We worked hard for it.”