Canton library staffers make most of space amid ongoing renovations

Canton Library Director Andrea Capone helps out with some demolition work in the reference section of the library.

The Canton Public Library is in the midst of a renovation that will completely change the first floor of the building by adding a learning space for teenagers, new study rooms, a passport services center, and a new circulation area with self-checkout. The renovation comes after years of planning and approval work.

After closing for several weeks during the summer, the library reopened August 10 with collection materials and services available to the public on a limited basis. For the next several months, Seaver Construction of Woburn will be renovating the building. The library staff worked during the closure to organize the ground level and the second floor, which are open to the public. The first floor of the library will remain closed until the summer of 2027.

Community Outreach Librarian Erin Kelley explained that the ground floor continues to house the Junior Room, the Community Room, and the Art and Activity Room. The main entrance to the library is now through the Junior Room door at the back of the library, with the Special Events entrance off the parking lot serving as the handicapped entrance. The Community Room will not be used for programming during the renovation; instead it contains new fiction, new nonfiction, young adult materials, and board games. The Art and Activity Room will continue to be a programming space, although seating will be limited.

The Community Room does not hold the library’s entire collection. Many items are presently housed in a temperature-controlled storage facility. Once the library reopens completely, books will be returned to the library and reshelved, and the Community Room will again be used for programming. Patrons can check books out at the temporary circulation desk in the Community Room or at the self-checkout station in the lobby just outside the Community Room. Books on hold are also in the same lobby for self-service pickup.

On the second floor, patrons can find nonfiction, DVDs, video games, travel books, fiction, newspapers, magazines, reference materials, technology, and administrative offices. Library staff members can do limited faxing for patrons. There are no self-serve copiers or scanners available, but visitors can scan documents through their smart phone. There are a limited number of computers for personal use available as well as a printer on the second floor. Materials can also be printed from a personal device.

Kelley explained that the completed first floor will have a very different look, with a variety of new areas. “The first floor will have the new teen space — the Bank of Canton Learning Pavilion,” she said. “It will have doors, walls, and a quiet work area. There will be a gaming room and programming space.”

The Learning Pavilion will have stadium seating, which requires the installation of support beams below. The construction crew added a temporary wall in the Junior Room as the support beams are being added.

Kelley said the first floor will also have the Young Adult fiction collection, Manga collection, adults regular fiction, one central service area for circulation and reference, a new self-pickup system for items placed on hold, a new passport service center, and three new study/meeting spaces. Another three study rooms will be added to the second floor, for a total of four on that level.

When the project started, the staff asked if they could take part in the renovation work. “We just wanted to give it a go,” Kelley said. “We asked, ‘Hey, can we hit a wall?’ And they said yes. So they gave us safety hats and let us go one at a time. It was fun.”

A number of staff members took a turn swinging at a wall in the reference section. The construction workers arrive at 6 a.m. and start working so that the loudest work is completed by the time the library opens and patrons arrive.

“We have lost our largest programming space, which is the Community Room,” Kelley said. “Programming is a little bit different. We are getting a little creative. The Art and Activity Room will be our main programming space for the next year. A lot of our programming will have registration requirements because of the limited amount of space. The event calendar (on the library website) will specify when that is the case.”

The Junior Room has also hosted some programs.

Upcoming programs include a coloring event with tea and relaxing music in September, a coffee tasting in November, and a Cookbook Club meeting.

Teens are doing Dungeons and Dragons starting in September and Mindful Mondays twice a month. “After school, teens can come in (for Mindful Mondays) and they can journal, they can color,” said Kelley. “It’s a quiet space for them to relax.”

The Junior Room will continue to offer story time, and there will be drop-in crafts and cooking programs in the Art and Activity Room.

Kelley said that there are no passport services or space for patrons to take Zoom calls presently. “We aren’t able to do any scanned email services right now, no self-service printing or faxing, and there are no study or meeting rooms,” she said.

However, patrons are able to use their library card at other Old Colony libraries.

Kelley said the entire library staff is grateful for the understanding that patrons have shown them during the renovation.

“We definitely do have limited services — we have about half of the space that we had before to provide services,”
she said. “But everyone has been so kind and patient as we work through kinks and we figure out what books we have and what books we can put on hold for people.

“We don’t have our entire collection right now, but we’re still able to put holds on books that are in the Old Colony Library Network. We want to provide as many services as possible. Please let us know if you have any questions, either in person, over the phone, or by email.”

For more information about the Canton Public Library and its “Next Chapter” initiative, go to library.canton.ma.us.

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