The Leland Township Library has established a satellite library in Lake Leelanau that features some 1,000 books.

ST. MARY students who were unpacking
and organizing books Friday at a new
Leland Township Library satellite location
in the East Traverse Catholic Federal
Credit Union office include (from left)
Susan Herman, Emily Schaub, Alyssa
Korson, Mary Lingaur, Kaitlin Houdek
and Patrick Arena.

Last week, members of the Leland basketball team boxed up the books at the library in Leland, and students in the St. Mary National Honor Society organized them on shelves at the East Traverse Catholic Federal Credit Union in Lake Leelanau, located across the street from St. Mary School.

The project blossomed from the success of the Leland Township Library’s other off-site shelves, at the Chase Bank branch in Cedar. Sylvia Merz, director of Leland Township Library, said the shelves in Cedar have been very popular with nearly 1,500 books, and 3,000 visitors each year.

Just like the Cedar branch, the Leelanau off-site lending shelves operate on an honor system. Each book, most of which have been donated, is marked with a “Lake Leelanau Bookshelf” sticker.

East Traverse Catholic Federal Credit Union made the bookshelf possible by offering the office space, Merz said.

The Lake Leelanau bookshelf will be maintained by volunteers Lawrence Bunchek and Maureen Suelzer.

New shelves were built and installed at the credit union over Memorial Day weekend and were funded by the Leland Township Library.

The new bookshelves are open during the credit union’s regular hours, which are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The credit union is closed for lunch from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.