Shutdown speeds up library renovation
Work was to proceed while library was open, taking longer
GREENWICH — When Greenwich Library began to “reimagine” its space, the plan was to stay open while the vast project brought changes to every floor as well as new features and upgrades to the grand building on West Putnam Avenue.
But while the outbreak of the coronavirus forced the library to close, it allowed the construction work to accelerate.
The project, originally expected to be finished in early 2021, is on track for completion by the end of the year, with most of the work done by early fall.
“We’re going to be very proud the day we can let people in the door,” Greenwich Library Director Barbara Ormerod-Glynn said.
“It’s going to be so beautiful.”
This includes completion of the new auditorium as well as a new café and courtyard that will lead to a new second entrance into the main building.
“It took tons of coordination with our contractor Gilbane to get to this point and a lot of hard work with our library staff, but we wanted to take advantage of this time,” said Hank Ashforth, a member of the library’s Board of Trustees and chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee. “Everyone has been remarkably cooperative.”
Work is currently underway on the first floor, with much of the transformation planned for completion in late July or August.
Construction on the second floor, which includes the world languages section, study rooms and the music collection, was finished in January. The improvements to the children’s room on the library’s top floor are part of a separate project, with partial funding from the state. Ashforth said the hope is that the work in the children’s room will take only 60 to 90 days. That should start in the fall and could be done by early November.
A new first floor
A new reading room will be added to the first floor along with new conference rooms. New study carols wll be put in place with all new computer equipment. And in addition to new carpeting and lighting, there will also be more windows, bringing in more natural light to the new reading room.
Another major new addition to the first floor will be the innovation lab with 3-D and laser printing and a laser cutter available. Ashforth said that is expected to be a very active area for programming, with staff members dedicated to that space.
The teen area will also be moved to the first floor, with the decision made to connect it directly with the innovation lab. Thomas Heagney, president of the library’s Board of Trustees, said it will make the teen area more accessible, too.
“The group study rooms will still be on the second floor, but on the first floor we’ll have a range of different seating,” OrmerodGlynn said. “Now they’ll be able to have their own dedicated space when before they only had a small area. We’re going to have tables outside for them, too, for studying.”
Trying it all together
But the most dramatic change will as patron enter the building, Ashforth said. And that’s all part of the plan: To change the way the library’s interior looks and reimagine how the space itself is used, tying everything together in a more effective way.
“The concept was to make this one library, not four or five pieces of libraries,” Heagney said.
“Three buildings have become one,” Ashforth added.
The restrooms will be redone, too, and everything will be accessible under the guidelines of the Amerians With Disabilities Act.
The new café, which will have French doors leading out into the courtyard, is expected to be complete in early September. A soft opening of that space is possible after Labor Day. A vendor has been chosen for the café, but the announcement has not yet been made.
The ground floor will offer access to the auditorium, the café, a learning lab and the new black box theater for performances, discussions and other events, including receptions. And a new staircase will lead from there to the first floor.
The work on the first floor meant moving out nearly the entire collection of nonfiction books in January. Those books are now coming out of storage, and patrons will be able to check them out again soon.
The new shelves are much shorter because the old shelves tended to block out light and restrict access.
“This is going to feel a lot more open,” Heagney said.
Still closed
The Greenwich Library and its branches in Byram and Cos Cob, as well as the independent Perrot Memorial Library in Old Greenwich, remain closed to the public due to safety concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. All of the libraries are offering no-contact pickup: Patrons can place a hold on items and then arrange a time to pick it up from outside the building.
So far that endeavor, which was launched June 15, has been a success, Ormerod-Glynn said.
“It’s been going great,” she said. “The public couldn’t be happier that service has resumed. They’ve been very patient, and we’ve been very busy.”
In the first week, Ormerod-Glynn said nearly 11,000 items, mostly books, were checked out. Due dates for materials that have been out since the library closed in March were extended to July 1, but patrons can renew them again.
The library hopes to reopen soon for public use of the computers, but the construction has made that more complicated. Instead, Ormerod-Glynn said that a soft reopening will likely be tested at the Byram Shubert Library to see whether it can be safely done first before expanding to the other libraries.
“There’s no specific date yet, but we’re hoping in a couple of weeks to do the pilot at Byram and take some lessons from that,” Ormerod-Glynn said.