Sharon Public Library Starts First Floor Painting Project Thursday

For just four hours late Thursday, patrons will check out and return books on the building's lower level, not the first floor circulation desk.

The library's first floor is being freshly painted for the first time in at least 10 years, Library Director Barbra Nadler said Tuesday.

The painting in the first-floor front room will be completed Thursday, Nadler said.

A sign on the front door will ask people to use the library's High Street entrance from 4 until the 8 p.m. closing, she said.

The $10,800 project starts at 4 p.m. Thursday and ends Tuesday, April 24, Nadler said. The entire first floor, including the gray concrete block, will be painted white, she said.

"It'll look cleaner and fresh and open," Nadler said.

The work weeks will be Thursday, Friday, and Sunday through Tuesday. However, work won't occur this Monday, which is Patriots' Day.

Crews will start work at 4 p.m. on the days when the library is open, she said.

Crews will paint only on Sunday, when the library is closed, she said.

"We're trying to do as much as possible when there's nobody here," she said.

Crews will move first-floor shelves to and from the lower level's Cynthia B. Fox Community Room during library hours.

"That's where it's going to be complicated," Nadler said, noting that library staff is discussing how to put holds on those books during this period.

"When they're downstairs, we won't be able to access them."