SWAMPSCOTT — These days the rooms of the Swampscott Public Library may lay empty to visitors, but that doesn’t mean director Alyce Deveau and the staff aren’t busy inside.
“The other day someone said to me, ‘what do you do?’ We’re buying books, processing books, doing programs online,” Deveau said. “The workflow is just different.”
Normally visitors comb the shelves for the book they want before sitting down to read or checking out the books. Now the staff receives plenty of email and call requests from the public for pick-up service.
Thankfully, the library has been able to put its front window to good use.
“The window has worked well,” Deveau said. “A lot of libraries are doing curbside and one of our librarians asked, ‘why don’t we use the window?’ It’s worked perfectly for us. None of the books come into the building, they’re put into the book drop then they’re quarantined for a week before we put them back into circulation.”
It’s not ideal but it does the job. When it comes to long-term planning, the library has also painted a clearer picture for its future.
Instead of jumping from project to project, the Swampscott Public Library’s board of directors has partnered with Ron Lamarre of Lavallee and Brensinger, the same architecture company that’s also working with Swampscott public schools, to develop a 10-year plan for the library’s future.
Surveys and socially distanced meetings have been held to help guide the plan with the public, and the response has been impressive.
“(Lamarre) helped us design a survey we sent out,” Deveau said. “We’ve gotten the biggest response we’ve ever had on the survey. We usually don’t get many responses but with this we’ve gotten a ton. We’ve held one community meeting out on the lawn. We’re going to hold another one, it’s just hard. The world has changed.”
One thing that hasn’t changed is the demand for more parking at the library on Burrill Street. Suggestions like that aren’t as helpful, but others have proved much more insightful and possible.
“People have realized we need a new young adult, teen area. It’s not even really an area right now,” Deveau said. “We’ve always let tutors come in because I think it’s important for them to have a safe space for the kids to be. We’ve never restricted that. But we need small spaces made, little cubicles where people like that can meet more privately.”
The library has also expanded its upstairs meeting room, home to children’s events and days like Harry Potter Day that drew 300 people last year.
“We have a large meeting room upstairs and it’s bigger now, we expanded it last year,” Deveau said. “But timing is everything and we haven’t been able to use it.”
The library may not be able to open its doors for the foreseeable future but with these plans and things such as adding movable bookshelves to open space and better organizing the opening lobby, the future has become brighter and more guided. There’s also plenty more to offer in the immediate future.
“All the local libraries have meetings once a week,” Deveau said. “Just to talk about where everyone is at. Some are actually letting people in to use computers. What we’ve done is bought computers people can come and use on the patio outside. We also have hot spots to take home for wifi. We’re doing just about everything we can.”
Daniel Kane can be reached at [email protected].
