Nahant Library begins a new chapter

NAHANT – A large fireplace and carved wooden mantelpiece at the Nahant Public Library is ornate, impressive and now the perfect place for kids to curl up with a good book after a redecoration and reorganization of the 1895 town “gem.””When I first came here, there was one teen bookshelf in the library and on this island there is no place for teens to go,” library director Sheridan Montgomery said. “We’re hoping to make it an inviting library for all of the community.”The Nahant Public Library is the third-oldest public library in the state, and the 1895 stone building is a town landmark, with stained-glass windows, carved mantelpieces and woodwork, and antique furnishings.It also hasn’t been rearranged since its construction, and the library leadership realized that a library in 2015 is very different than a library in 1895. Montgomery, who began as library director Oct. 14, spearheaded the redecoration, hoping to make the library a destination for more than just quiet readers.”There’s so much knowledge there, and so much antiquity there – we have wonderful books and paintings,” head library trustee Janet Dolan said. “But we want to have the building be a living building. Now it’s full of life, and to see all the activity there, it’s just wonderful to see.”Paramount to this rearrangement was devoting more space to children and younger teenagers – two groups that libraries across the country are trying to attract, Sheridan explained. Thus, the children’s room was moved into the original reading room, its fireplace filled with cushions, reading chairs added, a play area set aside, and child-oriented computer station set up.”We love it,” said Kristin Taylor on Monday afternoon as she walked out the door with her 3-year-old and a 6-year-old. “We came here all the time anyway, but this is the third day in a row we’ve been here this week. It’s great that they want to do this here.”A tween section is set aside in the new children’s room as well, with banquette seating surrounded by graphic novels, board games and a computer station with educational video games.The former children’s room is now the adult nonfiction room. Staff filled the room with books originally in the stacks so that they were more accessible…as people have been known to be afraid to climb the narrow wrought-iron stairs. A former storage room has been cleaned out to showcase the collection of Nahant and Massachusetts historical resources.The main lobby area is now home to four comfortable chairs in front of the room’s fireplace, and the walls are covered with new releases and new fiction. A coffee machine stands ready and the periodicals are hung on racks. A small table in the corner has a jigsaw puzzle – everybody who contributes a piece writes their name on a slip of paper and is eligible for a prize once the puzzle is completed.The library also has received a grant within the past few years to form a building committee to evaluate the building and consider planning and design for the future needs of the library – as an 1895 building does require some renovations to update heating and cooling systems, some ceiling needs and drainage issues.The library held an open house Saturday, and trustees said they stopped counting after 150 visitors came through the door.”It was very positive … we saw children and teens we’d never seen before,” Montgomery said. “Sometimes it’s hard for other people to understand your vision, but once they see it, they understand.”