MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA — To residents Gretchen Wood and Lisa Bonneville, the town’s library is a dream.
But Wood and Bonneville want that dream to be accessible for all who visit Manchester-by-the-Sea Public Library — including those who are disabled. Both are members of the town Americans with Disabilities Advisory Committee.
Access for all to the library’s offerings is critical, but is a challenge because “the library is very small and it has very tight spaces,” Wood said Thursday. “We have some pretty deep concerns about the library’s accessibility.”
Wood and Bonneville hope the town shows its support for the library, calling for the approval of a financing measure at annual Town Meeting on Wednesday that would lead to a potential library building project.
Article 9 asks the town to apply for, accept and expend Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program grant funds and re-appropriate $150,000 of the $200,000 previously appropriated for restroom renovations at the library, 15 Union St.
Library Director Cynthia Gemmell, who supports passage of Article 9, said she will be at Town Meeting to potentially answer questions about the measure.
“I would very much like to see the town support the article,” she said. “This is a preliminary step to see if we could have a plan for the potential renovation and expansion of the library. This will allow us to address the space issues, accessibility issues, lack of programming space, lack of meeting space and lack of collection space.”
Successful passage of Article 9 would enable the town to apply for a matching state grant that will help finance the planning and design of the library project, Wood said.
“This will not fund it,” she said. “It will merely get us into this round of grant funding. We can’t go forward unless we are accepted. It’s a small ask.”
Library Trustee Sarah Davis said Article 9 is supported by the Trustees, the Select Board, and the Americans with Disabilities Advisory Committee.
“It’s a requirement for keeping us in the running for a potential grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners,” she said. “It’s a requirement.”
The town needs to apply for the grant by May 31, Davis said.
“We’ve been working on the application for years,” she said.
Access for everybody
Wood, who served as town clerk in Manchester for 23 years before stepping down 13 years ago, will volunteer as a timekeeper during Town Meeting deliberations on Wednesday.
The library, she said, needs attention, adding using the restroom in the building is impossible for some.
“It’s a very tiny restroom,” Wood said. “That’s a problem.”
Access to the young adult programs is limited since the programs are held on the library’s upper level – reached only by climbing a narrow full flight of metal stairs.
“Imagine the feelings of a young person with physical challenges facing this obstacle,” reads the letter by Wood and Bonneville. “Searching for a book in the stacks would be impossible for anyone in a wheelchair. Then, there is the problem of the existing very small restroom tucked into a corner of the reading room, where it is hardly adequate for anyone, but certainly completely inaccessible to anyone in a wheelchair or walker, or a parent with a child in a stroller.”
The library is a resource in Manchester that needs to be optimized, Wood said.
“We have a beautiful building that is very valuable to the town,” she said. “It’s time to use it.”
Ground was broken and construction began on the library in 1886. The building, designed by noted architect Charles P. McKim, was dedicated on Oct. 13, 1887, according to the library’s website.
“It’s an architectural gem,” Davis said, who added the library’s limited accessibility, limited meeting space and the narrow staircase to the upstairs loft are among the problems faced by patrons and library staff.
“We want to have more meeting space to support programs, hold meetings and make interactions possible,” she said. “It’s really important to act now.”
Town Meeting is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. at Memorial Elementary School at 43 Lincoln St. in Manchester.
Stephen Hagan may be contacted at 978-675-2708, or shagan@gloucestertimes.com.