Get your prosciutto & drop off a book

Have you ever been browsing through meats, beer and cheeses and thought, ‘Gee, I wish I could get a library card to go with this stuff.’ ?..... Me too!

As of April 15, you can visit a library of sorts while at the Pittsburgh Public Market in the Strip. Market patrons will have a micro Carnegie Library that will occupy two booths on weekends

It is a pilot project of the Libraries in Your Neighborhood Community and School initiative, or LYNCS.

The markethouse is in the terminal building on Smallman Street at 17th Street. Library hours there will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Becky Rodgers, executive director of Neighbors in the Strip, said the booth will "help fill the gaps left when the Downtown and Lawrenceville libraries close on weekends while offering themed book selections including cookbooks and food-related books.”

The booth will have a browsing collection of best sellers and cookbooks, said library spokesman Suzanne Thinnes. Patrons may also register for a library card, pick up and drop off library materials and use the Internet and online library catalog.

Suzanne said if response warrants it, the LYNCS initiative may find another pertinent little site.

Molly Krichten, LYNCS coordinator, said this might be a first time “a U.S. library has provided full services in a public market.”

Cindy Cassell, Market manager, said the library presence will enhance the market's role as a gathering place. “Over the eight years of research on public markets around the country, we did not see anything like this," she said.

"The Library will add a new dimension to the great merchants and products already here, and to the overall shopping experience in the Strip.”