Hello & Welcome

We’re excited about all the possibilities we can share with you through our new website!

The new site makes it possible for us to react to important news and local events quickly and provide you with crucial and reliable updates, links, and sources for more information simply and easily. We know you rely on us for the latest, and best, sources of information, and I know that our crackerjack librarians are experts at providing that important service to you. So I hope you’ll plan to visit our new website often, make it a part of your online life, and always find a friendly and responsive presence however you choose to visit us at the Reading Public Library!

~ Ruth Urell, Library Director

Yesterday and Tomorrow

The Reading Public Library Board of Trustees are gearing up over the summer to file a Fall application for a state construction grant to renovate and expand the library building.

A Library Planning Consultant is currently assessing the library’s programmatic needs for the next twenty years and will issue a report to the Trustees in August. We’re also seeking proposals for an Owner’s Project Manager to oversee a feasibility and design study to investigate how the current facility can be renovated and expanded to meet increasing demands on services and future growth.

In the 26 years that the Reading Public Library has occupied the former Highland School Building, library business has doubled, computers have become an important part of library services, the children’s room has stretched beyond capacity, and somehow – ? – the parking lot seems to have shrunk! In fact, I’m pretty sure the children in the playground in the picture above are standing beyond the edge of the library parking lot! While the library may appear to be spacious and open, behind the scenes a lot is going on and, with the likelihood that there won’t be another state construction grant round for libraries for many years to come, we’re investigating options to make room for the next generation of library users, adding some study and quiet reading spaces, children’s program space, and updating the infrastructure for technology and modern systems.

We’ll keep you informed as progress unfolds, but of course, please feel free to send any questions you have our way in the meantime.

Have a happy summer – and hope I see you soon at the library!

Ruth

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Planning Meeting Cancelled Thursday July 8

We’re canceling the Library Building Planning Meeting for this evening – our facilitator had to go out of town. We’ll re-schedule later this summer. We apologize for the last minute change and hope you weren’t inconvenienced. Thank you!

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