West Pittston, Luzerne County - It's a long road to recovery for many who lost everything in the September flood, but after countless hours of hard work from hundreds of volunteers the West Pittston Library is ready to reopen its doors.

Director Anne Bramblett Barr says, "It's been 166 days of a tremendous amount of work."

And that doesn't even begin to describe it.  With nearly a million dollars in damages, the West Pittston library had to literally be shoveled out, gutted and put back together.

Maria Heck, Library Circulation Coordinator says, "When we walk through here its hard to imagine how much mud and book cases on top of each other and us throwing things out and the dumpsters filled with the muddy books.  It was sad.  It was really sad."

While construction was underway library officials set up a temporary location at the former Blockbuster store in the Insalaco Shopping Center.

"Blockbuster was a great temporary alternative but we were longing for what we called "coming back home" says Heck.

But all the hard work from hundreds of volunteers finally paid off.  Officials say they now have a more functional, better suited library to fit the needs of their patrons.

"In a lot of ways the flood was really horrible, but in a lot of ways it was really this huge opportunity for us to really re-imagine this library and how the community has changed and how people are accessing information differently," explains Bramblett Barr.

Library employees say neighbors have been stopping by almost every day to find out when their community staple will reopen and they're relieved to finally spread the good news!  Monday it's back to business as usual on Exeter Avenue.

"You got punched in the stomach and then you can take a couple of deep breaths and next thing you know you're in a beautiful new facility," says Bramblette Barr.

The library is still in need of monetary donations to help pay for furniture.  To donate, call you can contact library employee's at 570-654-9847.