Published: 2/10/2020 10:01:00 PM
Modified: 2/10/2020 10:00:55 PM
SOUTH ROYALTON — They’ve been shelving new books, arranging new furniture and hanging artwork recently at the Royalton Memorial Library.
It’s all leading up to a party Saturday celebrating the completion of new construction and renovations around the original structure, built in the early 1920s.
The project, which took 10 months and cost $737,500, includes a two-story, 1,500-square-foot addition housing a new children’s room, a maker space, a meeting room, a kitchenette and a staff office, two new bathrooms, an elevator and a new, ground-level entrance — the latter three aimed at bringing the library into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“It’s coming together nicely,” library director Tyler Strong said during a break in shelving late last month. “She’s really a beauty — something that will last going forward. … It’s going to be more than just a library where people come in to take out books. It’s going to be more of a community resource.”
Work started in April, and the library closed in October, but even with that, in 2019, the library welcomed almost 7,000 visitors, said Chris Demers, an assistant at the circulation desk who also handles communications for the library. She added that the library hosted 175 events or programs that brought in 1,881 people.
“It’s a warm community of supporters who use it,” Demers said. “There’s a lot of loyalty on the part of residents.”
Support for the project came first in 2017, in the form of a town-wide vote to approve borrowing $750,000, when it became clear that the library was overdue for improvements. In addition to needing to meet fire and safety codes, the old building presented a number of obstacles for disabled patrons, among the most glaring flight of concrete steps to the main entrance.
As planning went along, project cost estimates rose past $1 million, prompting a return to the drawing board that included scrapping a planned third-floor renovation. In March 2019, the Royalton Selectboard approved a $737,451 version of the project, part of which library trustees offset by raising about $230,000 in grants and $222,000 in donations.
Demers described the result as “a major transformation, comparing what it was to where it is now. It’s a great public community space.”
The meeting space alone is already in demand.
“The scheduling for it has been insane,” Strong said. “We’ve had more of an issue turning people away than getting people here to use the place. People want to get in.”
Royalton Memorial Library celebrates its grand opening Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. Vermont State Librarian Jason Broughton will speak, and the library will offer tours.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com or 603-727-3304.