Opinion: I Want A New Library

A version of this column appeared previously in the  Amherst Bulletin.

I want a new library. I want my 9-year-old Black son to walk into our community’s public library and see other people who look like him. I do not want, as some have suggested, for the very activities that bring so many of our fellow brown skinned residents to the library, to take place on a side street behind the town at the Bangs Center. I want my public library to be the focal point for activity that supports my son in his experience as not just a New Englander or an Amherst resident but as a global citizen. I see no other public building in the center of our community that can do that and I will be so proud when our library does. 

I want a new library. Have you been to libraries in Chicopee, Granby, South Hadley, Holyoke and West Springfield (among so many others)? They are amazing. These communities were all awarded money from the state to turn their antiquated libraries into true community learning centers. Taking state funds means they had to accept terms set to ensure equity in resources — terms that outline space allocations per number of library patrons, number of computers, energy sources and consumption; artificial vs. natural light sources; allocation of space for community gathering and other things. These requirements are designed to make sure Amherst residents — all residents —get a library that serves them in the best way a public library can. I want that. 

I want a new library. I have spent years going (or not going) to overcrowded programs in the Jones children’s room. I have struggled with the problem of leaving my child with friends on that side of the library when I needed to use the adult resources. I have felt scared in the ground floor stacks when I realized how vulnerable I was there. I was happy when a space was carved out for teens and saddened when I saw how impossible it was to make that underground corner of the building anything other than cold and removed (and definitely not a place I look forward to my child spending time); I have attended programs in the corporate and unwelcoming “community” room.  I grew up in Amherst but it was only by chance, as an adult, that I discovered the archives and the gallery. And, as much as I intended to frequent those beautiful spaces, I can count the number of times I have done so on a few fingers — because I never think of them when I’m at the library and, when I do, it feels like a chore to figure out how to get there.

I want a new library.  My family has paid taxes in Amherst for nearly 60 years. I want my taxes to go toward a new library. I understand that our community has other pressing needs. I accept when town officials tell me that we can soundly take on the debt to do all these projects (something, I am told, is fiscally responsible — which I may not personally understand, but I accept that they do). I do not want, as has been repeatedly suggested in a number of opinion pieces on the subject, for our community to turn down the state money for our library — which would mean spending the same amount of town money to renovate the building as to rebuild it using those state funds. Even if that were to mean a slightly lower tax burden on current residents, it would just push the problem down the line and deny current residents the benefits of a truly modern and inclusive public library. 

Nina Mankin

Nina Mankin is a North Amherst resident, public school parent, local small business owner, and former member of Town Meeting.