Woburn Public Library Awarded $9.9 Million Provisional Construction Grant

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners recently announced that it awarded provisional construction grant awards to the top five communities on the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program’s wait list:
Woburn: Woburn Public Library $9,906,275, Webster : Chester C. Corbin Public Library $5,366,489, Hopkinton: Hopkinton Public Library $4,533,580, Somerville: Somerville Public Library $18,100,101, and Stoughton: Stoughton Public Library $6,702,689.

Funding for these projects was made possible through the capital bond bill, signed by Governor Deval Patrick on August 5. The bond bill authorizes a total of $151,200,000 for the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program.

Grant awards are roughly half the total eligible project costs. Libraries that were awarded provisional grants will have until February 28, 2015 to secure the local funding match necessary to receive their grant.

“Many of our libraries were built over 100 years ago and struggle to accommodate the ways in which people are using the library today,” said Massachusetts Board of Librarty Commissioners chair Greg Shesko.

The Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program was first funded in 1987. Since then the program has assisted hundreds of communities in building new libraries or in renovating and expanding existing libraries. In 2008, the MBLC established the Green Library Incentive to assist communities in building libraries that meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification requirements. For more information about the program, please visit the MBLC’s website.