‘The Building is Crumbling Around Us’ says Library Director
Photo: https://www.joneslibrary.org/
Jones Library building maintenance has been largely ignored for the past ten years as library leaders have pursued a $50-million transformation of the historic library into a modern, expansive community center as prescribed and subsidized by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC). During the Buildings & Facilities Committee report at the August 6 meeting of the Jones Library Board of Trustees, President Austin Sarat asked, “Could you give a sense of how our systems are holding up? […] I mean is [Facilities Supervisor George Hicks-Richards] going around with bubblegum?”
“You can’t make this stuff up, The building is crumbling around us” replied Library Director Sharon Sharry.
“We had to close the large elevator because there was water pouring in and I’m not even sure what the cause of that was. The Special Collections leaks are constant […]. The staff and I joke that the air conditioning [makes it] better in the library than it is outside … but it’s very soupy in the building. … The atrium leaks are just the norm,” she reported.
Seemingly lost on the Director and Trustees is the fact that they are the stewards of the building and are responsible for scheduling system maintenance and repairing breakages. They sit on a $9.4 million endowment, receive more than $150,000 in state aid each year, benefit from a $2.3 million FY24 appropriation from the Town of Amherst toward library operations, report gifts of more than $112,000 from the Friends of the Jones Library Annual Fund last year, and are supported by a Capital Campaign that claims to have raised gifts and pledges totaling $4.3 million from members of the community.
Indeed, in its 2016 five-year plan the Amherst Joint Capital Planning Committee (JCPC) budgeted $435,000 for Jones Library HVAC improvements, $30,000 for carpet, $30,000 for exterior renovations, $50,000 for interior plaster and painting, and $25,000 for upgrading insulation. The trustees and director chose to forgo the JCPC improvements and commit to the MBLC-subsidized demolition-expansion plan that has required a town appropriation of $46.1 million. Despite “value engineering” design changes that seriously degrade sustainability and historic preservation features, the success of a project rebid in fall 2024 remains far from guaranteed.
Trustees President asks How Attendance is Trending
Perhaps concerned by MBLC statistics showing annual attendance at the Jones Library sharply declining over the past 15 years, Trustees President Austin Sarat asked the director how traffic into the library has been over the past year.
“I don’t have the statistics in front of me, but people go to public libraries more than they go to see baseball games,” said Sharry. “People love their libraries and need their libraries.”
Had Sharry peeked into the Director’s Report that she had prepared for the meeting, she would have seen that the Jones Library counted 153,418 visitors in Fiscal Year 2024. This is somewhat higher than the 142,675 visitors that the MBLC reported for the Jones Library in 2023, but is far below the 230,000 annual visitors that the Capital Campaign reports in its marketing literature. Historical data shows that annual Jones Library visitors are down from 334,000 in 2011, the year that Sharry was hired as Director, representing a drop of 54%.
More Donation Intentions, But Few Gifts
Trustee and Development Committee Chair Lee Edwards reported that the Jones Library Capital Campaign had raised $102,608 in the month of July toward the expansion project, after a disappointing June in which $1099 was raised.
The Capital Campaign Report, which does not appear in the meeting packet distributed to the public, but was included in the trustee packet, does not break down how much of the month’s total consists of pledges and how much represents actual gifts. However, this detail can be calculated by comparing the two most recent reports.
Comparing the August 1 and July 1 reports reveals that of the $102,608 raised in July, $98,742 consisted of “gift intentions” (pledges) while $3865 in gifts was received.
The Capital Campaign paid $11,164 in personnel expenses in July.
Details of Section 106 Historic Preservation Review Remain Sketchy
The Jones Library building project has been awarded $15.6 million in grant funding from the MBLC, a $1 million challenge grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) and a $1.1 million federal earmark overseen by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
State and federal laws require that government-funded construction projects submit to a review by the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) that “seeks to reach agreement to avoid, minimize, or mitigate adverse effects on historic and archaeological properties.” The review, often referred to as a Section 106 Process after the relevant section of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, was kicked off by a November 2023 letter from MHC Executive Director and State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) Brona Simon. The letter describes MHC findings of several adverse effects on the Jones Library which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
See related Opinion: Failing to Protect Historic Character of Jones Library Casts Doubt on Legitimacy of Entire Project
Amherst residents concerned with possible harm to the historic character of the legally protected Jones Library have been pointing out the need for such a review since 2016.
There was promise of some Section 106 clarity at the trustee meeting when President Sarat asked Sharry to say a word about the process.
“We’re still working with the NEH and HUD and are in the process of hiring a consultant to possibly contract with the town, so stay tuned,” she said.
More certain is the schedule for the Amherst Historical Commission (AHC) to consider the most recent round of design cuts. They will hold public hearings to review the Library’s application for a demolition permit and to judge compliance with the Town-Library Preservation Restriction Agreement on August 22 at 6:35 p.m.
Once completed, Sarat said, “we will be in a position where we can really tee the project up for bid.”
If the money spent on architects, consultants, staff and Trustee time had been spent repairing the library, most of the issues could have been addressed. The refusal to compromise or give serious consideration to other ideas is the main cause of the problem. By the way, do we not care about the DPW. I told Guilford Mooring 15 years ago the DPW ought to be the town’s first infrastructure priority. He smiled and said “do not tell my wife that, she is a school teacher.” With no anger or bitterness, I suggest that our fixation on the library has done enormous physical and social damage to our community.
Hi folks,
If you think you signed the library petition, you may not have! Please take a moment to do it again because there’s a good chance it didn’t actually get submitted. After it says “thank you for your response”, you still have to scroll down and hit submit. I thought I had submitted the petition but it was not received. Don’t worry about submitting twice, your name will only be counted once. Access the petition here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdfX-fOhk8OZI-lnBrElIh7hjbx8jAtiYgeICih5_RLrqa46A/viewform
TOO BAD the stewards of the Jones Library were so negligent over the years, deferring maintenance to the point where “the building is crumbling around us.” I frequent many Western Mass libraries, and the Jones is among the seediest, and whose fault is that!?
In a town with amazing college and university libraries, not to mention 2 branches in the Amherst library system, we do not need to have an exorbitant, jumbo library, already much larger than other towns with the same year-round population. (note: Amherst is 20,000 year-round residents, and 20,000 college students).
The town has several more urgent needs, including replacing an actual crumbling Public Works building, a fire station in South Amherst, a super-expensive and wonderful new school about to be built, fixing a lot of our 100 miles of Baja-like roads, and a decent senior center (not to mention, an adequate community center, maybe at Wildwood School, to be decommissioned in the foreseeable future).
Not to mention, the entire process of this library project has been shockingly opaque and sharp-elbowed; and a ton of money has been paid to consultants with conflicts of interest; as well as depicting the support for the project as much more than the 3000 people who voted yes for a much cheaper project, years ago; not to mention the super-sub-par fundraising, especially cash in hand, not just pledges.