Rainy Days and Old Libraries

A sunny day on the library lawn

There’s nothing like spending a rainy summer afternoon lost in the stacks of an old library!  If you visit the Reading Public Library one of these rainy afternoons, I hope you’ll find a welcoming spot, and I’m sure you’ll find plenty of stacks to lose yourself in.     In fact, in June, there must ‘ve been a LOT of rainy afternoons as Reading residents borrowed  over 41,000 books from the library -  — and  on Monday, June 22, the first day of the summer reading clubs,   1,187 people visited the library and checked out 2,575 books, setting an all time record for us.  While the rain may be bad for vacation plans, it’s great for the library business.

Old buildings and rainy days  – last year at this time, the Reading Public Library Board of Library Trustees commissioned an architectural firm specializing in old libraries to provide an overall assessment of this old library building.  We’d been through several years of leaks and drips, repairs and replacements, and it seemed as though every summer something else was breaking down – a major leak in the basement stacks that required major repair work,  an elevator failure disrupting services another summer, and several years of air conditioning troubles had raised questions about how well this old library, built as The Highland School in 1894, would serve the next 104 years!

The Library Building Assessment was an important step in the Long Range Planning Process that was underway last year.  The Executive Summary of the Report can be found in two places on the library website: on pages 4-5 of the Plan of Service and on page 14-15   of the Annual Report.  If you’d like to see the full twenty-two page Library Building Assessment Report, copies are available at the Information, Circulation, and Children’s Department desks at the library.  (And I hope soon to  figure out how to put the full report on our website!)

The Reading Public Library Board of Library Trustees and Facilities Department are working together, gathering information from many sources, including Performance Contracting assessments,  the Library Building Assessment, and other specialists and sources, to plan responsibly for the present and future needs of the community.   We are very fortunate to have such good stewards of this venerable old library!…  AND,  I’m happy to say, this summer everything in the library is working in tip top shape, as many improvements have already been made:  leaks fixed, chiller replaced, elevator running, retaining walls built for a beautiful new entry garden, and roof and gutter work underway…..  now quick, knock wood, maybe the sun will break out!