Enquiring minds want to know what’s up at the Merrill Memorial Library?
The Yarmouth Historical Society will move to the Yarmouth Water District building on East Elm Street in 2012, freeing up the third floor of our building. The overall plan calls for library staff offices to move to the third floor, opening up more public space on the lower floors. The library will then use the third floor gallery space for book discussions, poetry readings, author visits, and even classes. Bathrooms and a small kitchenette will be added to the third floor as well.
A Renovation Planning Committee has met since last winter to choose an architect and develop a long-term, phased plan to bring the building into compliance with fire and safety codes and to give us space for library programming. The committee chose the firm of Barba and Wheelock because of their broad experience with both libraries and historic preservation. The architects currently are working on design plans, interviewing staff, and analyzing program needs.
We came to Barba and Wheelock with three main tenets for our renovation. We need to:
- Provide space for public programming and needs within the library
We need quiet space for study, tutoring rooms, electrical outlets for laptops, story time space, a large room for book group discussions, and all the seating areas that make the library such a welcoming place to visit.
- Ensure that the historical integrity of our building remains intact or is restored
One of the things we heard when we asked people in Yarmouth what they liked about the library was the character of the building itself. Set up as a browsing library, it feels like a living room rather than just a staging area for books. The historical character of the building is an important feature we want to preserve. Barba and Wheelock have come to us with ideas on how to restore several features from the original plans.
- Bring the building into compliance with fire and safety codes, update the infrastructure, and conserve energy.
The Merrill Memorial Library is over 100 years old and the addition is 25 years old. We have worked with the State Fire Marshall’s Office and our architects to understand how to bring the building into compliance with current building, fire, and safety codes while maintaining our budget and the integrity of the building. We also have windows and in some cases wiring that are over 100 years old that are in desperate need of an upgrade. The bathrooms are inadequate and not ADA compliant. Some of the early work on this building will be behind the scenes attending to these issues.
The first phase of our renovation will most likely cover infrastructure needs that have been postponed until we could afford to do it right. We will first build new bathrooms on the third floor, so we can in turn redo the bathrooms on the first floor.
Meanwhile, our wish list of smaller stand-alone projects is getting addressed. The Yarmouth Lions Club donated funds to refurbish and bring our circulation desk into compliance with ADA requirements. The lower counter height is more welcoming for children as well. Grant money from the Margaret Burnham Charitable Trust funded automatic openers for our entrance doors and the Town of Yarmouth provided a new telephone system.
Our next step is to present drawings and schematics of our ideas in early winter to get feedback and a sense of whether these new plans are on the right track. With that input, we will decide the scope of our renovation and how best to phase the process.
~Merrill Memorial Library Board of Trustees, October 2011