From news release
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The Rockford Public Library is building a new main branch in downtown and you can sign your name to a piece of the building’s history.

The public is invited to sign a 30-foot long steel beam that will be placed on top of the structural steel network on the new main library at 215 N. Wyman St.

You can go to the construction site between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday to sign the beam. It will be put in place at noon Thursday during a topping out ceremony.

“This new replacement main library belongs to the people of this community,” Lynn Stainbrook, executive director of the Rockford Public Library, said in a news release. “We’d like the people to sign their names to the structure of this building so they can all feel a part of their public library.”

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To reach the beam, take Wyman Street north to Park Avenue, then turn east on Park Avenue and south into the construction entrance. The decorated beam is just inside the construction site fence.

The beam signing is part of the library’s ongoing celebration of its 150-year history. Last week, it held a fundraiser on Thursday and Mayor Tom McNamara declared it Rockford Public Library Week in the city.

If you sign the beam this week, the library asks for you to tag them at @rplibrary on Instagram and use the hashtag #SignTheBeam.