VIEW CONCEPT PLANS AND DRAWINGS. VIEW THE ANIMATED WALK THROUGH ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
The Swampscott Library Trustees engaged the community to learn what residents needed in the library over the next 10 years. Strategic goals are to address ideas and concepts learned from patron surveys, community meetings, and staff interviews.
- Better use of space within the existing library
- Better sightlines throughout the library
- Reduce congestion at the front door / circulation desk
- Reduce wait times to check out
- Increase staff support
- Better acoustics
- More space for quiet meetings / tutoring
- Better daylighting
The Ground Floor, when entering the library from Burrill Street, relocating the vestibule will reduce congestion and align the entrance with the back door that faces Town Hall parking. Opening this area to include small meeting rooms, lower shelving, a café, and a light well into the Children Room below, will create better sightlines, reduce congestion, and locate the ramp in a more patron-friendly location. As one walks into the Harris Room, two new patron restrooms will be provided along with low movable shelving in front of the existing French doors. In the future, added space can be built over the brick patio outside the Children Room, creating a glass enclosed space that overlooks the ocean.
The original library space will create an e-Commons and collections space by relocating the Young Adult / Teen Area to the Lower Level.
The Lower Level, known as downstairs, will be connected by the existing stair with proposed new windows for better sightlines and daylighting. At the bottom of the stairs, the new Young Adult / Teen Space will be coupled with a new Teen Librarian Office to support young patrons and programs. Between the Young Adult Area and the Children Room will be a Maker Space enclosed in glass for good sightlines and connection. The Children Room will take advantage of a light well located above the existing ramps, and a new centrally located circulation desk to create better sightlines and connection to our youngest patrons. The Toddler Room will be enclosed with glass to allow the same spatial feel with an acoustically separated space. In the future, on Children’s brick patio space a new glass enclosed space can be built below the new added Ground Level Space.
These modifications, and any added space, can be completed in phases over time as funding allows; or all at once if funds become available.
