It’s true. They don’t build them like they used to. The Wheeler Memorial Library in Orange is a classy, old stone edifice. Inside the woodwork is rich and solid. Old school — if we can mix metaphors. It was designed to house a library and has done the job well for most of its lifetime.
That’s why we were happy to see the library is planning to enlarge and renovate, not replace, the downtown building that has housed the town’s library for 104 years. Library services have changed over the decades and so have the town’s needs, but the library building has not, having never been substantially renovated or enlarged. So, updating the library makes sense now, especially if the charm and floor space of the existing library can be preserved.
Library patrons are excited at the moment because they’ve learned that the state is willing to back their plan for an expansion that would more than double the current 8,000 square feet of usable floor space. Although renovations could be another two years away, that the library is 12th on the state’s waiting list for a construction grant is exciting news to library Director Jessica Magelaner. It would correct several current deficiencies: limited programming space or quiet study space, a children’s room subject to leaks and mildew, a children’s programming area that doubles as storage, public meeting and staff space and a teen space that is essentially a corner with a few tables.
Wheeler is asking the state for $5,285,727, which is 53.2 percent of the cost of the current planned expansion/renovation that would also add a community room and make the library fully accessible for the first time.
And it’s no longer a matter of whether the library will get funding, but when and how much. Wheeler is one of 19 projects on the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners Construction Grant Waiting List.
But this plan is by no means a done deal. A state grant as large as requested means that the library’s patrons and the town’s taxpayers would still have to come up with roughly $5 million — not small change in a town like Orange, although a bargain given state aid. So, building public support over the next couple of years will be vital for Wheeler. That’s why we were glad to see Magelaner and the Library Building Committee are open to public comment on their plan. They meet the fourth Thursday of each month and are still looking for suggestions on details of the project.
“We want this to be the library people want to see in town,” Magelaner said. “Things can change over a couple of years.”
Starting now to build on the feedback of the public is a sure-footed way to garner support for this project. And starting now to raise public donations that can take the pressure off taxpayers when the time comes is also a smart move. Taxpayers will reserve judgment on this project until they see the final details of the proposed expansion/renovation, how much the state’s going to kick in and how much public money ultimately will be needed, and that’s how it should be.