Marblehead library move to expand youth room

MARBLEHEAD – After spending the summer considering some complex changes, Abbot Public Library trustees decided Tuesday to leave the youth room and meeting room on the lower level as they are.However, the library will move the staircase from the main level to the youth reading room on the lower level from its present location to a new spot next to the circulation desk – a proposal they first considered two years ago.Trustee Chairman Phil Sweeney said Wednesday the staircase move will add space to the youth room, which the library wants to make into a drop-in center for teenagers and give those youths direct access to the meeting room and the library?s Secret Garden.The next step will be for Sweeney and Library Director Patricia Rogers to seek designs for the changes.At present, the children?s room, art gallery and meeting room occupy most of the lower level and the youth room occupies a separate area of it. The only access from one part of the level to the other is through the elevator.Previously, the trustees discussed a proposal by Arrowstreet Inc. Design consultant Scott Pollack that showed the library trustees a design in which the youth room and meeting room changed locations and another in which the youth room became the meeting room and the meeting room moved upstairs. He also suggested adding a deck next to the main floor reading room, which would lead to the garden.Sweeney said that moving the staircase will “dampen any noise” from the youth area. The youths can use the meeting room for movies and other organized activities and they and local residents can enter the lower level of the library when the library is closed.?This will be less costly and we can do it in stages,” he said.