Woodstock Library readies for new life
Bearsville spot to offer triple the space, solar power, more parking
At a tiny table in the Woodstock Library’s art book room, I found comfort. Among the impressive collection crammed into shelves, I did my work and took breaks, thumbing through the books. I was biding time, waiting for my daughter to finish up at a school.
I tried coworking spaces and coffee shops, but ended up mostly at libraries, where I could work for free.
“Libraries have turned out to be like one of the last public spaces where you go, and nobody’s asking you to buy anything, or nobody’s telling you there are time limits on how long you can be there,” Woodstock Library Director Ivy Gocker said in her office decorated with drawings, prints and paintings of the library’s many iterations.
I was an hour from home while my teen attended a Woodstock private school pre-pandemic. At the library, surrounded by books, I felt safe and not pressured to move on.
A lot of locals have a soft spot for the place. They grew up going there for books and story time. The library cracked open a window for patrons to borrow materials during the pandemic. It has allowed people with sketchy internet or computer access at home to check email.
To me, that building on Library Lane will always be special. But it has many drawbacks. You can smell the mold from the basement, which floods. It isn’t compliant with the American for Disabilities Act and doesn’t have an elevator. There’s only one bathroom. So it’s time to say goodbye.
In a year or so, the library will be moving about a mile down the road to a new spot made available due to the shifting nature of work. The library purchased the two-story building at 10 Dixon Ave. in Bearsville from an investment firm that once housed 75 workers. The switch to remote work changed the space needs of the firm, so they put the building on the market. Now, residents and visitors (like me) will have a place to really spread out.
The old spot served the town for more than a century, but only a tiny part of the building dates that far back. The library was torn down in the 1960s and rebuilt.
“Yeah, I think there are two different kinds of historic, you know,” Gocker
said. “There’s, like this historic where you’re talking about architectural significance ... and then there’s historic of like, well, this has always been our library. And so there’s a lot of public emotion invested in this building. But, you know, I try to remind people that, yes, a library is building. But more than that, it’s all of the things that happen in that building. And so it’s the staff that provides the services, it’s the collections that have all the information.”
Gocker took me on a tour of the new place, and I was giddy. The library will be tripling its space from 4,000 square feet to 12,000 square feet. While it’s not within walking distance of downtown Woodstock, it is for those living in this area. There will be no competing for parking with tourists. Instead of a half dozen or so spots, there will be 40. Gocker said they’re also advocating for a new bus stop for those who can’t drive.
There’s solar power in the new space, and a generator for those Catskills storms. The wooden building already has a Woodstock vibe, painted a deep blue, and kind of a modern-barn exterior. The building had a refresh a few years back, and furniture, carpeting, doors and windows will be reused. It’s already landscaped. But to turn the place into a municipal building to suit the evolving nature of a library, much work will still have to be done. The architect is donating his services, which include moving a lot of walls and the main staircase. The second floor has to be stabilized to withstand the stacks – and the art book collection, which will get its own room and space to open up those books. The many books written in Woodstock by local authors will be pulled from a closet and be able to breathe in their own space. And, finally, there will be a music room. The story of Woodstock, the arts colony, will be showcased.
Getting here took a lot, Gocker said. “When I interviewed for the position with the full board, one of their first questions was, ‘How would you handle it if someone came into your office and screamed at you?’” She was told: “’People in this town have very passionate opinions about what should happen. So you know, you need to come into this job kind of, with your eyes open, about, you know, what you’re stepping into.’”
Over the years, attempts to rebuild failed to gain enough public support. A bond vote in 2020 to build a new library on the existing site went down by 11 votes. But finally in 2022, voters overwhelming approved a proposition to borrow $3.95 million to buy and renovate the Dixon Avenue property.
There’s a preview party from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 13, (before the major renovations get under way) at 10 Dixon Ave. There will be refreshments from Dixon Roadside, music and live animals. Library officials are fundraising to offset costs, and sponsorship opportunities for various rooms, collections and stacks are available. Donor bricks are also being offered for $250 each.