The Spokane County Library District says it plans to open The BookEnd, providing additional library space, in a vacant 2,200-square-foot area next to Macy’s on the second floor of the Spokane Valley Mall at the beginning of May. 

“The idea is for that space to be a boutique library,” says Jane Baker, spokeswoman for the library district.

The designated space will hold books, periodicals, and have online stations for users. It also will have a book drop for returns, and users can check out DVDs and CDs. Space also will be devoted to children’s books and kid-friendly places for them to read, Baker says.

“This was something that we started talking about last summer,” Baker says. A half-dozen employees are scheduled to staff The BookEnd.

Last June, the library district decided it wouldn’t try to pass another bond to fund a new library building in Spokane Valley after two previous failed attempts to do so.

“This doesn’t replace our desire to build a new library in the Spokane Valley,” says Baker of the library district’s plan to create library space in the mall.

The library district oversees facilities in Airway Heights, Cheney, Deer Park, Fairfield, and Medical Lake, as well as libraries on Moran Prairie and North Spokane. The library district also operates two libraries in Spokane Valley and one in Otis Orchards.

Eventually, the library district wants to put another library in Spokane Valley north of Interstate 90 on Sullivan Road, though it has no timeline, Baker says.