LIBRARY DEVOTEE
Graciela Rivera spent her childhood at the Park Street library; as branch manager, she’ll help it flourish in a new building
HARTFORD – From the time she was 12, Graciela Rivera grew up between the shelves of Hartford Public Library’s tiny Park Street branch.
She loved to read and learn, and the library was just a short way from where her family lived in the Frog Hollow neighborhood.
Rivera started her career as a Park Street library assistant, and today she brings her children to the library, where she is the branch manager. “This is my second home to me,” Rivera said.
Now, after a groundbreaking on Tuesday for a new $12.5 million library, Park Street’s 32-year-old branch manager will help write the next chapter of its story.
The library is moving a couple blocks down to a new corner location on the busy intersection of Park and Broad streets, where community members, library staff and local politicians hope it will serve as a neighborhood hub.
The new building will be 13,000 square feet, about six times bigger than the current location, Rivera said. There will be a second floor computer lab and a new teen space. In concept renderings, large glass windows cover much of the exterior. Construction is expected to last
about a year.
For one of the busiest but smallest libraries in the seven-branch system, an upgrade is long overdue. Advocates have been pushing for an expansion for around 25 years, lobbying f or funding despite changes in leadership, budgets and priorities.
The current space is limited in programming and resources, Rivera said. Children’s computers sit on windowsills instead of tables, and there’s no space for storytime without moving the furniture.
“At this point, the community has outgrown the space,” Rivera said.
With more resources, Rivera hopes to make the library even more accessible to Frog Hollow, especially its young people. As a teenager, she read “When I was Puerto Rican” by Esmeralda Santiago, a book that showed Rivera the lasting power of literature. The memoir is about a girl who must learn the culture of U.S. schools when her family emigrates from Puerto Rico.
“It made me feel like I wasn’t the only one going through things like that,” Rivera said of the book.
Domonic Mendez, a 14-year-old member of the Hartford Youth Advisory Board, is a regular patron of the Park Street library.
He’s gone to different branches over the years based on where he’s lived and started going to the Frog Hollow location about a year ago. He said his younger brother, who turned 13 Tuesday, helped him start going.
“It gives mesomething to do instead of being out and about around Hartford,” Mendez said.
Mendez said his mother is often worried about him, especially because there was a recent shooting in another area where hangs out. The library makes him feel safe.
He’s excited for the new building because it means his two little sisters will have more space and won’t have to fight over the three working computers in the current branch.
“I believe this is going to be a great opportunity,” he said.
Like Mendez and his siblings, people come to the Park Street library every day looking for more than just books.
Many who live in the neighborhood don’t have access to computers or cars, so the library is a close place where they can come to fax paperwork, apply for jobs or renew their Husky Healthcare.
“I think sometimes advancements in technology create more barriers for people,” Rivera said. “They don’t know where to go, so they come here.”
Rivera is bilingual, which helps her translate government documents for Spanish-speaking patrons and connect with a larger community.
Spanish programming is also available, including one that teaches a positive approach toward parenting and encourages treating children with respect.
“Things don’t have to be the same all the time,” Rivera said. “You can change them.”
Rivera also curates the Spanish collection for the entire library system.
Right now, Rivera is a working toward a master’s in library and information science from Syracuse University. She said she’s learning theory in the classroom but gains experience every day from her job and can see how the community is building the space.
“They bring people together that otherwise might never connect,” Rivera said. “People feel safe in libraries.”