Spaces of the Future
Originally Published in the Friend Memorial Public Library Newsletter
Most of the time this newsletter is reserved for musings about the library, and the building campaign has it's own posts and information. But this week, I just couldn't help myself. The expansion is all I see from my office, it's all I think about when I walk in from the parking lot, and every day I'm more and more excited for it. So this week, I wanted to take you on a quick tour of some of the spaces, and what they will be used for in the years to come.
Zoom Meeting Rooms
Board Treasurer, Diddy Parson, sitting in one of the zoom rooms that will be available for booking
One of my favorite places in the expansion has always been the solarium-connector. I remember the earliest sketches which showed a simple walkway. I remember walking in an airport and seeing that even in the hallways, there were places to sit, charge a phone, or read a book. I am so excited that we’ll have a space like in the new walkway. A hallway with windows for walls, sun every day of the year, and cozy chairs for cold winter afternoons.
Another element of the project that is exciting to me is the Zoom Rooms. For years now, we have had to turn people away when they ask for a quiet space to have a meeting. We have told people, “you can use one of the outside tables." We’ve even directed patrons to Blue Hill, and sometimes just had to shrug and say "I'm sorry, we just can't do that yet." But not anymore! With the growing rise of remote work and co-working spaces, these rooms will help us meet our community’s evolving needs.
The Future MRC
Board Member Rich Hilsinger sits and reads the newspaper in the future Anne and Maynard Bray Maritime Research Center
And this is just the beginning. I could go on forever about what will be in this new building. I could write whole essays about how the staff room is the perfect place for the trap door to the basement, because we never want to store more in that room than a staff work table and some chairs, and the trap door will not end up covered in boxes... But I digress. For years we have been hoping for you to see what we see. To imagine what we imagine can be made of this space. What once seemed so nebulous is becoming tangible.
Soon it won't be board members pretending to read in unfinished spaces; it’ll be your cousin who is in town but can't get out of a work meeting. Your son or daughter on a chilly afternoon who walks over from school and curls up with a copy of Dog Man in the solarium. Your parent who remembers sailing a wooden boat sometime in the 70's maybe? or the 80's? - they can't remember, but they can look through the photographs by Benjamin Mendlowitz and be reminded of summers long gone. Or maybe it'll be you, just looking for a place to read and finding it in the library. And I know you will; there's a place for everyone here.
-Catherine Nevin, Library Director