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see and hear about your Library
The
Return on the Investment (ROI): Supporting reading, childhood literacy,
lifelong learning and meeting the greater expectations of our town
and its
citizens in the
21st century
– Priceless.
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Clapp Memorial Library - The
Vision
You’ve arrived at Belchertown’s newly renovated and
expanded Clapp Memorial Library. The parking lot is spacious, with
plenty of places to park and tall trees to shade your car on summer
days. Lush landscaping greets you as you walk to the front door. The
green scene helps you start to relax as you approach the building, a
substantial structure that reflects civic pride.
Meeting Room
As you enter, you notice the Meeting Room on
your left, and you’re reminded how handy it is to have such a facility
available in the center of town for use by all kinds of community groups.
The room, with its 100-person seating capacity, can be used for large
meetings, or it can be subdivided for use by smaller groups. Because the
room is accessible from the outside of the building and can be isolated from
the library itself, it can be used by the public even at times when the
library isn’t open.
Children’s Area
Your attention is captured by the activity in the
Children’s Area in front of you. It’s full of vibrant colors and joyous
sounds. Children and their parents are attentively listening to story
time. The children laugh with delight at a humorous story, and then rise as
a group to follow the librarian in a finger play and stretching activity.
You look around and note that the area is spacious and there are many
interesting things at hand. The bookshelves are low; everything is within a
child’s reach. There are stuffed animals from well-known children’s books,
early literacy toys and other stimulating items. Some older children are
sitting quietly using laptop computers (with filtered internet access), lost
in concentration. You wish you were a child again; this looks like a fun
place to spend time.
Relaxing Reading Area
You go up the stairs (or use the elevator) to the upper
level and pass through the gallery which connects the new expansion to the
original building. As you enter the historic part of the building, you’re
delighted once again at the way its character has been preserved in the
renovation. Your gaze is drawn to the tall windows; there’s abundant light,
and a pleasant hum of activity. Racks of periodicals and newspapers invite
your attention. There’s so much going on in the world today, one newspaper
just isn’t enough! And who knew there were so many magazines? To your
left, you see the popular materials section, and to the right, the stage
holds groupings of comfortable chairs and a few tables, perfect for light
reading, visiting with friends, or just people watching. You can even get a
cup of tea or coffee, if you like. This is a place where you could really
spend some quality time; any sense of pressure fades away.
Performance Space
Looking at the stage, you recall that all the furniture
on it, and all the furniture in the rest of this section, is movable. The
whole area can be rearranged to restore the stage as a performance area and
set up the rest of the room as audience seating. Then this historic space
becomes a place where the community gathers to enjoy recitals and other
programs – just as it was in the early days of the library!
Young Adult Area
You pass through the connecting gallery to the upper
floor of the new expansion. As you enter, you see the Young Adult Area to
your left and think of your children as teenagers. The area is spacious,
and there’s a lot to attract and hold their interest, including magazines,
audio books, and award-winning fiction. There are comfortable chairs in
which to read and tables for study. And in this area, as well as throughout
the library, you can use your laptop computer – or check out one of the
library’s laptops – to search the internet, using the facility-wide wireless
network. You remember fondly when you and your children both took the
library’s course on how to use the resources of the internet intelligently
and effectively.
Reference / Research Area
Ahead of you is the reference and research area, with
its collection of reference materials available to you or your children, and
a reference librarian ready to help you locate what you need. But today,
you’re looking for some lighter reading, so you turn to the right and enter
the main library stacks.
Main Stacks
One of the things you like most about this area is its
sense of spaciousness. There are lots of books – shelves and shelves of
them – and sections for DVDs and books on tape or CD . . . but there’s room
between the shelves. You feel welcome to go down any aisle, even if someone
else is already browsing that part of the collection. You wander for a
while, looking at various possibilities for your week’s reading. That’s
part of the joy of being in a library; there’s something particularly
satisfying about being able to take a book off the shelf and look through it
to see if it looks like something you’ll enjoy, or if it has the information
you need. You find a couple of things that look interesting, and prepare to
check them out.
Special Collections Room
As you turn to leave, you realize you’re standing in
front of the Special Collections area, a secure, fully climate-controlled
room where historical documents and other materials can be protected against
loss and deterioration. You’re glad the library has this facility where the
heritage of the Town and the region can be preserved for generations to
come.
A Place for Community . . .
With your reading material in hand you head to the
circulation desk to check out. As always, it’s a pleasant experience; the
librarian is friendly and efficient at the same time. Then, as you leave,
you encounter your neighbor, who has just arranged to acquire a book from
another library in the regional inter-library lending system,. The two of
you decide to go over to the relaxed reading area for a cup of tea and some
conversation.
This is the library we envision: a place where the
community can come to explore the world of knowledge, of entertainment and
literature, of ideas. It’s inviting and welcoming. You’re not rushed,
you’re encouraged to linger and explore. You see neighbors and friends, and
realize that this is a community center, a place for everyone – and it’s all
free! |
