The Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Interim Library branch finally opened on Saturday, a full six months after the trailer first appeared on Rhode Island Ave. NW. Residents and neighborhood blogs had expressed frustration with the series of delays that prevented the temporary branch from opening as scheduled at the end of June, almost three years after the original branch was closed. Delays in getting electricity installed in the structure, and problems with the library’s computer…

Good morning, Washington. It’s the last Friday in July, and we can already feel the impending doom and gloom of D.C.’s traditional No News August, a time when the Washington Post publishes lengthy ruminations on humidity and local TV news begins investigating whether your children’s toy water guns are really safe. But as if feeling the need to grant us one last interesting Friday before the new month begins, D.C. Council member Harry Thomas…

On December 30, 2004, D.C. Public Libraries closed four branches — the Anacostia, Benning, Tenley-Friendship and Watha T. Daniel/Shaw neighborhood branches — announcing replacement libraries in 18 months. That schedule was upended by DCPL management changes, leaving those communities without functioning libraries, and D.C. residents everywhere complaining about the sad state of a city that seemed to have the wrong priorities. But over the last few months, things have started to turn around. First, interim…

Without a library since 2004, the Shaw neighborhood may finally be getting a place with walls to borrow books. The neighborhood’s Watha T. Daniel library, as well as the Tenleytown, Anacostia, and Benning libraries, were supposed to have been renovated by 2006, but after a series of delays and cancelled contracts, there may be some book relief coming. We got an email from the D.C. Public Library via ANC commissioner Michael Bernardo saying a…

(From DCist contributor Zoe Mitchell) More buildings in D.C. are coming down soon. However, unlike the convention center implosion which briefly affected traffic in the area, the upcoming closure of the Anacostia, Benning, Tenley-Friendship and Watha T. Daniel/Shaw branches of the DC Library will directly impact D.C. residents for months. According to the Common Denominator, the four community libraries will be closing on Dec. 30 “in preparation for tearing them down to make way for…