The new Hagen Ranch Road Branch Library will be the largest in the county system when it opens with great fanfare this weekend.

A ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. Friday will kick off three days of activities to introduce readers west of Delray Beach to their palatial new library, after the nearby West Atlantic Branch closed for good on June 7 for the move.

The new site is at 14350 Hagen Ranch Road. The old building at 777 W. Atlantic Ave. will be used for storage, and eventually the county Sheriff’s Office wants it for a substation, said John J. Callahan III, director of the Palm Beach County Library System.

Callahan and branch manager Karen Spano expect readers in the western suburbs of Boca Raton and Boynton Beach to gravitate to Hagen Ranch Road, which has extended hours and will be more family oriented than West Atlantic, which catered largely to seniors.

Both buildings are down the road from Kings Point, and in the lap of Emerald Pointe and Huntington Lakes condos, among others.

“I think patrons who live closer to Delray will come,” said Nemoure Ahmed, manager of the West Boynton Branch Library. “I think we’ll still be busy.”

Parking has been an issue at some nearby branches, especially Southwest County Regional on Glades Road west of Boca Raton.

Hagen Ranch will have 213 parking spaces and 14 handicapped spots, more than are required, Spano said.

The library will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Sundays and two more evenings a week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. West Atlantic was closed Sundays, now the day Callahan calls “boom time” for the library system.

“You have whole families come to the library on Sundays. We have seven branches that circulate 10,000 to 11,000 items in five hours,” he said.

At 34,000 square feet, Hagen Ranch Road will be the largest in the system until the North County Library in Palm Beach Gardens is expanded, Callahan said.

The entrance has wide, automatic doors for easy use by families with strollers and patrons using canes, walkers or in wheelchairs, Spano said.

The Spanish-language section is front and center.

“We wanted it to be in an easy-to-find place, so we put it across from the DVDs,” Spano said.

There are 40 computers for public use, five enclosed study rooms and a large, bright reading area with lots of windows, and banquet and chair seating that looks out over a lake. Meeting rooms can seat 59 and 250 people, and the larger room has Bose speakers and a drop-down screen.

There’s a teen lounge, and Spano calls the children’s department “a big improvement.” Paw prints in the carpet mark off a separate, storytelling room that can still be used when the large meeting room is occupied with early voting.

The new branch is one of 16 projects the county had funded with the 2002 $55 million bond issue, Callahan said.

Six are still under way, including new libraries in West Boca and Lantana. The tight economy has tabled plans for a new Main Library in West Palm Beach, he said.

Palm Beach County residents are using libraries more than ever. Circulation was up 13 percent last year, and it has increased 17 percent so far this year, he said.

South county used to lead library use as much as 20 percent, “but it has started to even out,” Callahan said.

The Internet has fueled interest in reading, instead of rendering libraries extinct.

“That has become an urban myth,” Callahan said. “The economy is also having some positive effect. When times are bad, people use libraries more.”

One good reason: They’re free.

INFORMATIONAL BOX:

If you go:

What: Grand-opening weekend for new Hagen Ranch Road Branch

Library

Where: 14350 Hagen Ranch Road, west of Delray Beach

When: Friday: 10 a.m., ribbon cutting; 10:30 a.m., refreshments; 11 a.m., performance by Hohner’s Heroes; 2 p.m., performance by barbershop quartet

Saturday: 10 a.m., children’s story time; 11 a.m., crafts and activities, Karl Koppertop and the Extreme Balloon Team, photos with Dewey, refreshments; 2 p.m., performance by magician Gary Midnight

Sunday: 2 p.m., refreshments; 3 p.m. performance by Tuna de West Palm Beach.

Information: Call 561-894-7500.

Upcoming programs at the Hagen Ranch Road Branch Library

July 14-Aug. 1, Summer Story Times Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays:

10 a.m. July 15, Suzy Hammer as Millennia the Muse; wear a toga and visit with Greek visitor from ancient times. Age 5 and older.

2:30 p.m. July 15, 22 and 29, Crafty Kids’ Club, age 5 and older, preregister.

11 a.m. July 16, 23 and 30, Super Summer Science Club, age 5 and older, preregister

2 p.m. July 16, Socrates CafM-i, 90-minute discussion group for adult amateur philosophers

2 p.m. July 18, genealogy research, two-hour demonstration of online family history resources, including the library’s genealogy research Web page, and HeritageQuest and Ancestry Plus databases

2 p.m. July 21, Ernest Hemingway @ the Movies, For Whom the Bell Tolls

10:45 a.m. July 22 and 29, Movie Mornings, Ratatouille and Young Black Stallion, respectively.

2 p.m. July 23, Heart Healthy Nutrition, one-hour program by Dr. Neil Shachter

2 p.m. July 24, book discussion, 90 minutes, on The Alchemist

2 p.m. July 28, Ernest Hemingway @ the Movies, To Have and Have Not

2 p.m. July 31, book discussion, 90 minutes, on The House on Mango Street