The main branch of the Wellesley Free Library offers plenty of seating space throughout its two floors. Patrons can choose from comfortable upholstered seating that offers a view of Town Hall and the busy Washington St. scene to individual study carrels to quiet study tables that seat up to six.
For a little more privacy, Study Rooms are also available at no cost and can be reserved online one day in advance, first come, first served. Located on the second floor, and large enough for up to two people, sometimes you can get one of the three Study Rooms on the fly by signing up in person at the upstairs Reference Desk. In our experience, it’s more likely that without a reservation you’ll have to wait awhile for a room to become available. Don’t forget to check in at the Reference Desk before you settle into your room. And forget about overstaying. It’s almost always the case that once your reserved time draws to a close, you’ll hear a gentle knock at the door from the next up in line.
Study rooms can be reserved for up to two hours per day. Room reservations will be held for 15 minutes. If you show up later than that, chances are that an earlier bird waiting on stand-by will swoop in and be nicely settled by the time you make your fashionably late entrance. A convenient feature of the Study Rooms is that you can talk on your cell, as long as you’re not doing the cell-phone shout. Keep it down, people, this is a library.
Small conference rooms
Small Conference Rooms on the second floor of the Main Library allow for groups of up to eight to hold study sessions or meetings in a private space. To get one of the rooms at a time and date of your choice there’s a $25 charge, and a reservation must be made. A maximum of one reservation per month will be accepted from the same person or group.
There is no charge for a small conference room if you want to take a chance and just show up with your group, and a room happens to be available at that time. If you go this route, you can have the space for a maximum of two hours.
If you’re drawing a crowd
The Wellesley Free Library has rooms available to rent for larger meetings, conferences and programs. When you see the Wellesley Gardeners’ Guild in the Wakelin Room putting together floral arrangements, or a musical recital taking place, it’s because organizers have reserved that space months in advance and paid a room rental fee to secure the spot.
Room fees run from $50 for a non-profit organization expecting no more than 25 attendees to rent out the second-floor Arnold Room for a half day, to $800 for a for-profit that wants the 185-capacity Wakelin Room for a full day. There is an additional cleaning fee if food is served.
Technically speaking
Jackie’s Room in the Main Library offers 12 Windows 10 workstations; a networked color printer; a built-in LCD projector; and a workstation for a trainer. The PCs have Microsoft Office 2016 and Photoshop Elements 15 installed, plus all the standard browsers for Internet access. MacBooks and ipads are also available.
Hills Branch Library
The Hills Branch Library can be rented out by groups and organizations sponsoring civic, cultural and educational meetings. It may not be booked by an individual for a private event with the exception of a music recital, but note that there is no piano on the premises.
The Fells Branch Library
There are no rooms available for reservation at the Fells Library.
MORE:
Wellesley Free Library rooms — policies and pricing
Wellesley rocks: local bands won’t get shushed at new monthly library concert series
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