Politics & Government
Library Extends Rogers' Contract
Somerville architectural firm, Arrowstreet, to help high school students design lower level space.
Marblehead Library Director Patricia Rogers, who has been heading the for the last three years, will officially be in charge of the library for several more.
The library board renewed Rogers' contract Monday night with little discussion.
The renewal allows Rogers to continue working on plans for one of her favorite projects: redesigning the lower level of the library so that it provides a more inviting and useful space for children, teens and young adults.
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“We are trying to move the library forward into the future,” Rogers told the board. “The teens can show us the future. I think this is a great thing.”
The library and architectural students are working together to redesign the lower level space. About 16 high school students, working with their teacher Catherine Landergan, have built several models of what the lower level space might look like.
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Now the students are working with Arrowstreet, a Somerville architectural firm, to help allocate the space for the several rooms that make up the lower level.
The library board voted to spend $7,500 toward Arrowstreet's architectural fees in the hopes of producing a report by the end of June. The June deadline, they said, is aimed at finalizing plans before students leave school for summer vacation. The funds will be allocated from a grant from a bequest of the late Oliver Porter Killam, a longtime Marblehead resident, that is earmarked for the support of library services for children and teenagers.
Rogers said she is working closely with Landergan and the students to get their “buy-in for the library.”
“If we get this right, I think there will be a lot of support for additional changes” at the library, she said.
In other business, Chairman Phil Sweeney said he is meeting with the Town Engineer William Lanphear to determine whether the library or their neighbors own a stretch of property where there is a deteriorating wooden fence. Once the ownership of the land in the rear of the library is determined, Sweeney said he would present a plan for the future of the fence.
