A temporary Central Express facility opened Tuesday at 200 N. Cooper Street to provide a temporary, alternative location to the 40-year-old George W. Hawkes Central Library, which closed in December to make way for a new development, including a new, state-of-the-art Central Library scheduled to open in 2017.

Central Express will offer computer access, Wi-Fi, new and high demand materials for adults and children and holds pickup. Some collections will be temporarily housed at branch locations and warehoused materials will be available through the holds request process.

Held items will be sent to the patron's choice of pickup location which may be any of one of six branch libraries, the Central Express facility, seven Library Link elementary schools (patrons must be members of a student's family) and three locker pickup locations at the Cooper Street YMCA, Tarrant County College Southeast campus library or Foster Elementary School.

"Central Express allows us to provide a degree of continuity of service to residents who need to access library services in the downtown area. We hope our residents and visitors will also take this time to become familiar with the great array of services available through our six branch libraries. We are fortunate to be able to provide a strong network of library facilities here in Arlington," Director of Libraries Cary Siegfried said.

The hours of service at Central Express are:

• Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
• Friday and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Central Express is closed on Sundays.

Extended hours of service will be offered at the East Arlington Branch Library, 1624 New York Avenue. During the school year, the East Arlington Branch hours are:

• Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
• Friday and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Sunday, 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. during the school year

All branch locations are open Monday through Thursday, from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Southeast Branch is also open Sunday from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. during the school year.

More information is available on the Central Library Project web page at http://webapps.arlingtontx.gov/tmp/centrallibrary/. This site will offer construction updates, answers to frequently asked questions, calendar events, library history, special features and fascinating vintage photos.