Coolidge Corner Library Renovations Sparkle

After six months of renovations, the Coolidge Corner Branch Library reopened earlier this month. Sara Slymon, Brookline’s library director, says 1,026 people flooded through the doors when they opened for the first time after the renovation. This Brookline institution was sorely missed.

The upgrades to the library are significant and noticeable from the moment patrons walk into the building. Two new elevators were added as well as fresh paint and new carpet. Part of the roof was also rebuilt. Slymon says the 50-year-old skylight that was previously in the library’s atrium was causing plants to die. Years of wear and tear meant that hardly any light was coming through, leaving the space gloomy and unwelcoming. With the refurbishment of that space and the skylight, the atrium garden has been restored. Now the greenery brings a calm, natural element to the public building. On the shelves a collection of Russian and Chinese material has been returned to the library, an excellent resource for those populations living in the Brookline area.

In the new year, the Coolidge Corner branch will be back to its packed public programming schedule including afternoon movie screenings, ESL conversation groups, and countless reading and play activities for kids.

Off-site workers are kept happy too. “We tripled the amount of public computing available,” says Slymon about the upgraded media resources in the library. They also have an updated audiovisual system and 16 new loanable laptops. New signage is a big change as well. “We did a lot of big, bold, graphic signage,” says Slymon. “In place of some of the signs we used color for wayfinding.” By using color and other signage techniques that don’t rely on words the library becomes more accessible to people who are not native English speakers or who have low literacy levels. The signs that do use words have been upgraded to use more relatable, colloquial language rather than stiff, institutional terminology.

That’s not the only way the upgraded library is welcoming the community into its arms. The re-designed public living room space allows patrons to make themselves at home for some reading time, studying or just to chat with friends. This encourages people to spend time in the library rather than just using it is as a resource to pop in and out of. During the reopening ceremony, Brookline Town Administrator Mel Kleckner said, “The library is a refuge. It’s like our community’s living room where people can always come to get out of the rain.”

By Celina Colby

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