Lebanon
Lebanon library officials are readying for the renovation of the Lebanon Public Library, hoping an update can open up more space for the public to read, browse books and participate in activities.
“There are people who really use this library and they would like to see there be more space for patrons to use the building,” Library Director Sean Fleming said on Monday.
There’s long been talk of renovating the 108-year-old library, which sits across the street from Colburn Park, but it wasn’t really possible until the Kilton Public Library opened across town in 2010, Fleming said. Administrative offices moved to West Lebanon, he said, meaning there’s now unused space in the downtown library.
The first thing to move in a future renovation likely would be the library’s circulation desk, which sits in the main lobby, just a few feet inside the front doors. Displays with the library’s newest offerings would take its place instead, Fleming said.
“We would like to move this desk, which is colossal, out of this central area,” he said during an interview at the library. “If you were to remove this, the flow of traffic from the front through the building would be so different.”
There are proposals to remove walls on the second floor near the teen room, which would clear the way for more chairs. An old office space also would be converted into a quiet area.
“One complaint that people do have is that there’s nowhere to go in the building that’s really dedicated to quiet space,” Fleming said.
Shelving on the second-floor balcony would be replaced with the library’s special collection, making it easier to perform genealogical and historical research.
“We have a historical collection that’s really inaccessible to patron’s right now. We want that to be up here,” Fleming said.
Any renovation likely would coincide with restoration work on the building, he said, adding the city’s library trustees recently hired Randolph consulting firm DuBois & King to construct an engineering study of the building for roughly $13,000.
A budget for the proposed renovations hasn’t been formalized, but some of the repairs do have estimates.
Engineers from the firm visited the library in July and issued a report in late August.
They recommended the city repair the exterior columns, fix the slate roof, replace a fuel oil tank and replace parts of the electrical service at a cost of $48,000 to $64,000.
“The facility is in very good overall condition,” the report said. “It does show signs of age but has not been neglected.”
Fleming said he also would like to see renovation bring the building into compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
Currently, there’s only one accessible parking space to the library, and the ramp leading to the building is too high, according to the engineering report.
“It is a century-old building and inevitably you do have things that need to be taken care of,” Fleming said.
The library’s history began with the Lebanon Social Library in 1802. Its name changed to the Lebanon Free Public Library in 1889, and it was housed at the time in the Grand Army Hall of the Soldiers Memorial Building, according to the library’s website.
The building that now fronts Colburn Park was constructed in 1909 from $12,000 in private donations combined with $12,500 from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, making it one of the more than 2,500 Carnegie libraries worldwide.
It was designed by Boston architectural firm McLean & Wright, which also designed libraries in Alstead, N.H.; Lancaster, N.H.; and Wilton, N.H., around the same time.
The architecture is considered an “exercise in classical vocabulary, combining Greek details with forms borrowed from Roman and Egyptian sources, as well as abstracted designs,” according to the building’s nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1958, a children’s room was added to the building’s basement, and a larger addition on the back of the building was completed in the 1980s.
Fleming said Lebanon’s library board of trustees will have to prioritize projects before the renovation can go forward. Once that’s complete, the board will request money from Lebanon’s capital improvements program to partially fund the upgrades.
“We’re looking into these things and seeing what needs to be done and what we can afford to do,” said Francis Oscadal, the board’s chairman, adding that the group is in a preliminary planning phase.
However, most of the money likely will come from donors, Fleming said.
When the Kilton Public Library was completed for $6.2 million, he said, private donors comprised roughly 70 percent of those funds.
“People love to give to libraries because people still love libraries,” he said.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.