• Contact Us
  • Events calendar
Entering Swellesley
Pinnacle, Wellesley

The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • Eat
  • Wellesley Square
  • School
  • Top 10 things to do
  • Embracing diversity
  • Charities/Community
  • Arts
  • Camp
  • Kids
  • Environment/Sustainability
  • Events
  • About us
  • Subscribe
  • Natick Report
  • COVID-19
  • Letters to the Editor
  • 2021 Town Election
  • Bulletin Board
Needham Bank, Wellesley
Boston Sports Institute, Wellesley

Wellesley Free Library redesign sounds nice—for when we can all get together again

April 10, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

It’s near impossible to take in any information these days without putting it through a COVID-19 filter. And so I did as I listened to an architect describe plans for Wellesley Free Library main building interior renovations, for which $270K in design/engineering funding was approved at Town Meeting a year ago.

During this week’s Permanent Building Committee online meeting, Stewart Roberts detailed the plans, which are designed to, gulp, bring people together and get kids and adults engaged in the sort of hands-on activities currently forbidden.

“The library is in good shape but it is 20 years old and the nature of library services has evolved in the last 20 years,” said Roberts, whose firm also worked on the Fell branch redo. “This project is about bringing bringing library services up to a level people expect today… more interactive, more engaging and creating more spaces for people… and we’ve backed off the book collection a little bit.”

library redesign
Johnson Roberts Associates presentation

 

Every time Roberts described a cool new thing, like an electronic wall that kids could interact with or a pin wall that they can press their faces or hands into in a re-imagined children’s room, I couldn’t help thinking about our current no-touch society.

A move to more self check-in could be COVID-19-friendly, as long as wipes, etc., are handy near touchscreens. But know that we are talking about an overall $3.1M-plus project that isn’t slated for construction until next year (when the library closes for construction, at least we’ll have had practice).

lite wall
Johnson Roberts Associates presentation

 

The children’s room is in for big changes designed to allow for more activities. The entrance will even be changed to hit you in the face with an open activities space, with butterfly sculptures, rather than the circulation desk, which will be moved off to the side. A sigh of relief came over the meeting when Roberts assured Permanent Building Committee members that the mighty fish tank will be moved but visible from both the children’s room and a new commons area where you can grab coffee from a dispenser,  hold a book group, and hang out with people.

Much of the design centers around flexibility, allowing space to be re-purposed for various activities, such as a 3D printer-fueled maker events or a poetry slam.

Some of the design changes are being made to welcome library visitors to the real library sooner upon their entrance into the building. Walls will be removed to make it less of a going from lobby to lobby feel when you come in through the parking lot entrance. The traditional big circulation area will shrink.

Upstairs changes will be more subtle, mainly involving some more cozy lounge seating, a more consolidated computer area and more study rooms (equipped with wall monitors). Better lighting is proposed, too.

One thing’s for sure with the changes that are afoot, as library director Jamie Jurgensen says: “The library is no longer a quiet place. We’ve been a community gathering place for a long time.” But Wellesley is fortunately to have 2 levels, Jurgensen says, so the top floor can at least be kept to a low hum even if noises rises from time to time from the lower and soon-to-be more active lower level.

[Note: The library discussion takes up about 45 minutes near the beginning of the Permanent Building Committee meeting, in case you want to review it yourself.]

More:

  • Subscribe to Swellesley’s daily email
  • You Need Us, We Need You: Please consider contributing to Swellesley to sustain our independent journalism venture
print
Share

Filed Under: Wellesley Free Library

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Linden Square, Wellesley
Fran's Flowers
Clearhaven Recovery

Tip us off…

Please send tips, photos, ideas to [email protected]
Wellesley Square ad
Wellesley, Jesamondo
Admit Fit, Wellesley
Sexton test prep
Feldman Law
Fay School, Southborough
Wellesley Theatre Project
The Moving-Pictures Company
image of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
covid vaccine
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Never miss a post with our free daily Swellesley Report email
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

You can subscribe for free, though we appreciate any contribution that supports our independent journalism.

Click here to read our Natick Report

Natick Report

Most Read Posts

  • Newton-Wellesley Orthopedic Walk-In—no appointment needed
  • Wellesley Business Buzz: Bank branch to close; New bank coming to town, sort of; Celebrating women-owned businesses
  • Babson to the rescue: Survey seeks to get to bottom of Wellesley Square issues
  • Town mourns Wellesley High Building Manager Tom Zinck
  • Wellesley Police log: Suspected opiate overdose proves fatal; service dog calms child; man headed to court for unauthorized dumping

Events Calendar

« April 2021 » loading...
S M T W T F S
28
29
30
31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
1
Tue 13

STEM panel discussion

April 13 @ 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Wed 14

Fairies, Frogs, and Damsels (online program)

April 14 @ 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Thu 15

Meeting and Discussion with 4th Congressional District U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss

April 15 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Thu 15

Wellesley’s Sustainable Mobility Plan online forum

April 15 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Thu 22

Ben Franklin, The Early Years: Wellesley Historical Society online lecture

April 22 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Pages

  • Guidelines for Letters to the Editor
  • How to submit your flyer for the Community Bulletin Board page
  • Wellesley Community Bulletin Board
  • Wellesley coronavirus (COVID-19) updates
  • Wellesley’s 7 official scenic roads
  • Wellesley, Mass., fishing spots
  • Wellesley Choral Society
  • Wellesley College Notable Alumnae
  • Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.
  • Wellesley outdoor art gallery
  • Wellesley restaurants offering take-out and delivery
  • Wellesley, Massachusetts restaurant — Amarin of Thailand

Recent Comments

  • Cynthia Kelly on Town mourns Wellesley High Building Manager Tom Zinck
  • Sue Morris on WHS senior scavenger hunt to blanket Wellesley
  • Michael Auclair on Town mourns Wellesley High Building Manager Tom Zinck
  • Kelley Downey on Wellesley Business Buzz: Bank branch to close; New bank coming to town, sort of; Celebrating women-owned businesses
  • MICHAEL GUARNIERI on Select Board makes Indigenous Peoples Day official in Wellesley

Links we like

  • Great Runs
  • Jack Sanford: Wellesley's Major League Baseball Star
  • Taquitos.net
  • Tech-Tamer
  • The Wellesley Wine Press
  • Universal Hub
  • Wellesley Sports Discussion Facebook Group

Categories

  • 2021 Town Election (21)
  • Animals (387)
  • Antiques (48)
  • Art (544)
  • Beyond Wellesley (30)
  • Books (345)
  • Business (1,381)
  • Careers/jobs (45)
  • Churches (73)
  • Clubs (211)
  • Construction (281)
  • Dump (113)
  • Education (2,918)
    • Babson College (244)
    • Bates Elementary School (14)
    • Dana Hall School (29)
    • Fiske Elementary School (6)
    • Hardy Elementary School (33)
    • Hunnewell Elementary School (34)
    • MassBay (49)
    • Schofield Elementary School (20)
    • Sprague Elementary School (19)
    • St. John School (1)
    • Tenacre Country Day School (9)
    • Upham Elementary School (30)
    • Wellesley College (600)
    • Wellesley High School (895)
    • Wellesley Middle School (195)
  • Embracing diversity (52)
  • Entertainment (728)
  • Environment (679)
  • Fashion (134)
  • Finance (13)
  • Fire (144)
  • Food (328)
  • Fundraising (565)
  • Gardens (137)
  • Government (422)
    • 2020 Town Election (47)
  • Health (759)
    • COVID-19 (151)
  • History (360)
  • Holidays (367)
  • Houses (121)
  • Humor (45)
  • Kids (819)
  • Law (3)
  • Letters to the Editor (12)
  • Media (63)
  • METCO (4)
  • Military (3)
  • Morses Pond (97)
  • Music (545)
  • Natick Report (28)
  • Neighbors (252)
  • Obituaries (62)
  • Outdoors (588)
  • Parenting (60)
  • Police (702)
    • Crime (356)
  • Politics (545)
  • Real estate (293)
  • Religion (127)
  • Restaurants (306)
  • Safety (143)
  • Scouts (1)
  • Senior citizens (111)
  • Shopping (123)
  • Sports (906)
  • STEM (107)
  • Technology (158)
  • Theatre (383)
  • Town Meeting (22)
  • Transportation (212)
  • Travel (12)
  • Uncategorized (1,212)
  • Volunteering (319)
  • Weather (168)
  • Wellesley Election 2019 (21)
  • Wellesley Free Library (259)
  • Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend (5)
RSS Feed Icon Subscribe to RSS Feed

© 2021 The Swellesley Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login