Photo: Kathy Keohane, chair of the Board of Library Trustees and Library Director Peter Struzziero climbing the main staircase to the second floor of the new Belmont Public Library.
It’s less than six days before its scheduled grand opening, and the spanking new $39.5 million Belmont Public Library is less than ready for its moment in the spotlight.
The front lobby is a sea of white cardboard boxes holding the library’s book collection. The public computers are in place but not yet up and running. Window shades need to be installed as a wide array of finishing work continues while legacy stained glass windows depicting children’s storybook scenes destined for the Children’s Room have just arrived and are sitting in the outer lobby. So much to do!
But Kathy Koehane said the 40,500 square foot, two-story structure replacing the original circa 1965 building will be ready to welcome an expected overflow crowd of patrons and residents on the holiday weekend starting off with a grand opening at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17. [See the list of events here]
It’s a place to come together, to gather. It’s a destination; it’s a place to learn, explore, and connect, and we need that more than ever in today’s world
But what is opening on Saturday is more than a new municipal structure of glass, brick, and mortar, said Keohane. Saturday is the start of the new library’s legacy as the heart of the community.
“It’s a place to come together, to gather,” said Keohane. “It’s a destination; it’s a place to learn, explore, and connect, and we need that more than ever in today’s world, where you can try something new,” she said. Here you can borrow tools for a project, be part of a book group or cooking club, learn a language class, look for a job, or attend a lecture. “It’s so much more than what your grandparents’ library was,” Keohane said.
For close to a quarter century, after a proposal to replace the already threadbare original building with a new facility supported with a Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners grant across Concord Avenue collapsed due to a lack of town support and resident interest, Keohane and a slew of volunteers made it their mission to galvanize the public for a new structure to house the town’s library, first established in 1868.
The volunteers worked hard to convince a vocal segment of Belmont residents who did not believe the existing aging library needed to be replaced or it simply required a renovation to house the town’s collection. But retreating on the proposal was not an option.
“There was no choice,” said Keohane. “We had to do something. The old building was not safe. It was not suitable. It was not maintainable. This was the right decision. We could design this building to be flexible, to accommodate the current needs of the community, and for years and years to come; the library is much more than books.”
After a decade of work, a new proposal was presented to residents, who approved by a 58 percent to 42 percent margin a debt exclusion in November 2022. A building committee was created with architect Clair Colburn, who has been the president of the Belmont Library Foundation, as its chair, who steered the project so it was completed on time and on budget.
“We have a great building committee, and we are so lucky to have [Colburn] as the chair,” said Keohane. “We’ve had great partnerships with the architects, with the construction team, and with the owner’s project manager.
“What you hear sometimes was about the stress and the tension. While everybody on this team worked together collaboratively and respectfully, it didn’t mean that we weren’t at odds sometimes. But everybody came together, and we all have such pride in this building and what it means for the community,” said Keohane.
Even after the vote, the town’s support for the library was evident by its fundraising program. “Never before in the history of Belmont has there been the amount of funds raised for a project of this size. So we set an aggressive target. It’s all volunteers who have given $5 million (so far), which has never been done in the history of Belmont. We exceeded that,” said Keohane.
Designed by Boston’s Oudens Ello Architecture, the library is airy and filled with light with its myriad of windows that even on a cloudy Monday, the two-story interior is illuminated. At night and in the mid-winter afternoon, the library is lit by a large light feature.
Patrons will enter into the Belmont Savings Bank Foundation Library Commons, the hub of the new library. It’s also the location of the glass-enclosed Robert McLaughlin Hall, where events, arts performances, lectures, and meetings will take place.
“I would hope that, like, least once or twice, the School Committee and the Select Board could come here [to hold a meeting],” said Keohane.
Throughout the structure, “[w]e have four conference rooms … that are reservable as are seven quiet study rooms,” said Keohane.
The Commons and other areas can be converted into a larger space as the bookshelves are on casters. “So if we’re having movie club, we can move the shelves and have a performance in here. Everything’s movable.”
The eastern area of the first floor is the Children’s Room, created with three distinct areas designed and equipped for different ages: a Discovery Zone for toddlers and young children where they can find a favorite spot to come sit and read a book; an Exploration Area for older kids to allow for independent study and a dedicated program space.
Along the sunny side, visitors can view and enter the newly renovated rainwater garden and walking path. A great deal of care was taken during the design phase on landscaping along the Wellington Brook, designed by Cambridge-based STIMSON, noted Keohane.
“What we heard long and loud and clear was the importance of outdoor space, which was reaffirmed and even heightened because of COVID,” she said. “These are all native plants and grasses. There is an amphitheater that can be used as a community outdoor classroom. Where you can have story hour. But this also serves as an overflow area in the event of a 100-year flood.
“I love the porous pavements throughout that connect to the existing woodland gardens. And all of it is the Americans with Disabilities Act compliant, which it wasn’t in the past,” said Keohane.
Reduced from the initial proposal after a design review, the center staircase retains a visual presence that connects the floors, with bench-like seating that overlooks the Commons.
The second floor is where the teen section and the Belmont Media Center studio are located. The Belmont Historical Society and the library’s own historical collection will be side by side, making for greater availability and coordination. Along the South side are the seven small study rooms that can be reserved, as are the conference rooms.
The east side is the impressive floor-to-ceiling window wall where quiet activities such as reading periodicals or a favorite book occur. There is also an outside balcony that overlooks the Underwood Pool and two of Belmont’s newest municipal buildings: the Belmont Middle and High School and the Belmont Recreation Center.
“[Patrons] want different experiences. So we’ve tried to find something for everybody in this, so you want: the second floor is a quieter, reflective space. You want a louder, more convivial space that’s on the first floor,” said Keohane.
The new building was designed with a strong emphasis on maintenance and upkeep. The floor at the Concord Avenue entry is an unpolished gray stone, not to impress but to endure.
Libraries are never going away. All that we’ve done is we’ve become a place that continues to evolve with the needs of the community
“Look at this floor. It’s not the prettiest, but it’s going to last for 50 years. And that was deliberate. When you go into some of the other spaces, you see carpeting that was deliberately selected because of the wear and tear especially in New England.”
Even the chairs and seating elements were put to the test. “We conducted sitting tests. I think we sat in probably 60 of them. [Struzziero] actually took some of the fitted wall coverings and poured coffee on and wrote on them, and then we tried to get [the stains] out. We thought about how we were going to maintain this,” said Keohane
The new library will also enhance the work of the librarians and staff.
“We have a great staff in the old building, but they didn’t have the tools that they needed,” said Struzziero. Where there were two public programming spaces in the old building, there are a dozen now.
“So we can offer everything that we want to offer at the same time. We don’t have to flip a coin between a children’s program and an adult program or the need for a committee meeting from a town group to be held here. We can do everything all at once. Everything that people said that they wished that they could have in their library,” said Struzziero.
“We are more aware the staff is not just checking out books; they’re doing ‘library value added’: interacting, solving problems, answering questions,” he said.
The new library is looking to build a strong connection with Belmont schools – the Belmont Middle and High schools as well as the Wellington Elementary are stone’s throws away.
“They were great partners throughout the project because [the library administration] lived in the Chenery Upper Elementary space for two years. We’ve told them, ‘Call on us!’ We owe them a debt forever. Furthermore, we’ve made it clear that we’re available,” said Struzziero.
Just as Belmont has committed to a building for the next half century, one can find countless articles and commentary that proclaim that the concept of a library is both outdated and of a bygone age in a world of instant communications in a handheld devise.
Struzziero disagrees.
“The last year before we took down the old building was the highest circulating year in Belmont Public Library history. In 2023, we were the 10th busiest site in Massachusetts, in that old building that didn’t serve the public, that wasn’t ADA compliant,” he said.
“Libraries aren’t going anywhere. They said when TV came out, they said, ‘That’s the end of libraries.’ Then when you could watch movies on VHD cassettes in your home, ‘That’s the end of libraries.’ The Internet came out, ‘Libraries are going away.’ Libraries are never going away. All that we’ve done is we’ve become a place that continues to evolve with the needs of the community. Belmont did the best numbers we’ve ever done just before this project began, and we’re going to smash those numbers going forward.”
