Print edition: 
Two years ago, the Rose Hill library was little more than four bookshelves in a room the size of a large closet.
Now it has a brightly painted and well-decorated building with 5,600 books, three computers and more than 1,000 members.
In a town of about 4,000 people, about 25 percent hold library cards.
Those familiar with the transformation credit librarian Cindy Maxey, who marshalled volunteers and cajoled contractors to accomplish the task with about $37,000.
Maxey is quick to credit others.
"It's just so impressive to me with all of the community help and the support," she said. "Everywhere I turned, someone was there to help."
The library is in a building at 306 N. Rose Hill Road that over the past three decades has housed a clothing store, two beauty shops, three restaurants, a savings and loan, a senior center, the police department and City Hall.
From 1984 to 2007, the library shared space inside the Rose Hill Primary School library. A year after voters approved the formation of a tax-supported library board, it moved into a 100-square-foot room in the old city hall, sharing the building with the city's Public Works Department and recreation commission.
"I coordinated story times between yoga classes or belly dancing or whatever," Maxey said, laughing.
Months later, recreation and public works moved to other permanent homes, allowing the library to use the rest of the building. But the library board didn't have the money for a full renovation.
"We looked at getting some estimates and they ranged from $160,000 to $170,000. We didn't have that," Maxey said.
Undeterred, she sought help from volunteers and bargained with vendors to get equipment and labor at cheaper prices.
" (Maxey) can work a dollar, let me tell you," said Garland "Rob" Robertson, one of the volunteers.
From August to December 2008, volunteers and contractors demolished seven offices, installed new windows, rewired electricity, reinstalled air conditioning, painted all of the interior walls, put up new ceiling tiles and laid carpet.
Rose Hill Friends church met for Sunday service one morning at the library and worked during the time usually spent for worship. The Boy Scouts pitched in, too, as did high school football and wrestling teams.
Larry Gustin, a retired credit manager at the Cessna Aircraft Co., had no training in electrical work or demolition. But when electrician Wayne Bowman said he could use a hand installing lights, Gustin turned up each day. He also installed cabinets at the library.
Maxey said the throng of volunteers also helped build a customer base, since many of them now turn out to enjoy the finished product.
Mayor Mark Conway called the new library "a tremendous asset to our community."
"Not only did it bring together numerous volunteers," Conway said, "but there's also various things Cindy and her board have (planned). It's nothing but good things, reading programs, fundraisers.... That library is more than just books on the shelf."
Gustin said he and his wife, Marsha, use the library often, mainly for online access.
"You feel good when you drive by and look at it and think, there's still good people left in the world," Gustin said. "It's not like Derby's (library) and not like the Andover library by any stretch of the imagination, but dollar for dollar, we got 'em beat hands down."
