Library Outreach Survey Yields Four Suggestions
Results of Speak Up! Share Your Comments With The Jones Library Outreach Committee Survey
Two people chose to participate in the most recent Speak Up! survey asking for thoughts on the design of the renovated and expanded library and inviting general comments on the building project.
The Jones Library Building Committee Outreach Subcommittee continues to solicit design ideas which if deemed feasible will be passed on to Finegold Alexander Architects for possible inclusion in the final schematic drawings. Their comment period ends on July 1. Public Comments received to date have been compiled into a google spreadsheet.
Included in the survey responses were a total of four comments. These are listed below.
What ideas or suggestions do you have for the final design of the renovated and expanded Jones Library?
1.
| Eliminate the Teen Room or justify its existence with clarity. Will teen users be required to use this space? Is it designed to provide space for collaborative work? When teens are in school, what will this space be used for? Will teens not using library resources or services be welcomed to congregate in the Teen Room? Will teens be allowed to use all library services and spaces, as other patrons are? Will supervision of a Teen Room be substantially different than supervision of other public spaces in the library? There are a multitude of other questions and since the space allocated to a Teen Room is substantial and the library project is already under significant financial strain, this proposed space should either be justified, reduced or eliminated. |
2.
| Include café space for eating and drinking while reading and/or chatting. |
Please add any general comments you may have about the library building project.
3.
| The south-facing façade of the current building, which so many want to save, seems awkward and ill-suited to the rest of the proposed library, if artist renderings are to be believed. Since the interior spaces into which the south entrances directly lead are among the most poorly designed and least effectively used in the entire building, it seems to me to do historic preservation no service to make the traditional entrance so ill-suited to the rest of the proposed building. I don’t at all favor the expansion project, but if it should proceed, there should be greater building integrity than preserving a façade and ignoring its context allows. |
4.
| Stop insisting that an “overwhelming majority” of voters supports the library renovation-expansion. The referendum showed that more than one-third of the Town opposes the project, yet these residents will be forced to subsidize it. |