Can I use it for this?

That's right, you can use arimasu for anything but living things.

Arimasu is used for non-living things.
Imasu is used for living things.

So, you can use arimasu for liblary, university, supermarket...
For example, "There is a supermarket."
you can say

" Suupaa(supermarket in Japanese) ga arimasu."

Particle is "ga".

"There is a car." is

"Kuruma( car in Japanese) ga arimasu."

But, there are some exceptions.

"There is a tree." Tree is living, I think.
But,

"Ki(tree in Japanese) ga arimasu."

1)Is it living things?
Yes... imasu, No... arimasu

When 1)'s answer is "Yes", you have to continue the following question.

※) Is it able to move?
Yes... imasu, No... arimasu

About "tree",
1) 's answer is "Yes"
But, ※）'s answer is "No".
So, for "tree", "flower" , we use "arimasu".

"There is a flower."
" Hana(flower in Japanese) ga arimasu."

I think your opinion is wrong a little.

In Japanese, "ある" and "いる" are substantive verbs. I think "ある" represents one operation is performed before or the result which had been previously completed is still remaining. On the other hand, "いる" represents ongoing operation.

So, for example, considering to a sentence "The bas is wating here", we can use "いる". This sentence is "バスがそこで待っている。" in Japanese.