The Library Vault

By Ramona Burkey, Director of Russell Library

You may have read in the newspaper or on social media recently that the Russell Library is on the verge of making some momentous decisions about the future of our building. One comment I’ve been hearing a lot lately is “So, I hear the library is moving!”  Well… maybe, or maybe not. We just don’t know yet!

If you’ve been to the Russell Library lately, you’ll know that we have our fair share of building-related challenges. Trying to run a 21st-century public library in a repurposed “19th-century church attached to a 1930 addition attached to a repurposed 1960s bank” is a daily adventure, to say the least. Our book stacks, installed in the 1950s, are not ADA-compliant and cannot be reconfigured or moved, making it impossible for users in wheelchairs to navigate or browse the aisles. Our restrooms have not been updated in decades and, like our major mechanicals such as the air conditioner and elevator, are in imminent danger of complete failure. Our building is poorly laid-out, with countless nooks and crannies and dead ends, presenting safety and security challenges. It is 40% smaller than what is needed for a city of our size, according to the Connecticut State Library’s Space Planning Guide.

The most recent library renovation and expansion, completed in 1983, was designed and built as a temporary stopgap structure to last “until the year 2000,” at which point longer-term facilities plans would be made. We are now 23 years overdue, and counting.

In 2021, the architectural firm HMA2 of New York, NY, completed a comprehensive library facilities and engineering assessment report. They came to the conclusion that our current library building is not meeting the needs of our community, and that it cannot meet those needs in the future in its current configuration. In fact, the report estimated that the cost of current sorely-needed repairs alone would be in excess of $5 million.

As a result of the report, the Library Board of Trustees and library leadership decided to kick the future planning process into high gear. In the fall of 2022, the Middletown Common Council authorized an initial appropriation of $50,000 to begin a study to determine the feasibility of building a new library. The Council asked that the newly-formed Committee also examine the feasibility of building a new City Hall, perhaps even on a shared site with a new library.

After several months of meetings, discussions, tours and thought exercises, the Russell Library/City Hall Feasibility Study Committee recently concluded that while there are several sites in town that could theoretically accommodate a new library (including the current site at 123 Broad Street), for various reasons no site is perfect. There is no appropriate candidate for a shared library/city hall campus, at least nowhere near downtown.

Ideally, designing a new library site from scratch would involve acquiring at least 3 acres of land in or near downtown, with plenty of room for setbacks, landscaping, and ample free parking. The site would be readily and definitively available and, ideally, not cost-prohibitive. None of the sites examined in the Committee’s initial scans met every single one of those criteria.

That’s not to say that Middletown can’t or shouldn’t have nice, new library facilities. In the coming months, we will be working with an architect/consultant to gather robust community input and help narrow down the best options for our future within the context of available sites. The bottom line is that we need to come up with a sustainable plan for the next several decades that will stop us having to put “five million dollar band-aids” on our current building. We will need to tick off all of the “must-have” boxes: availability, size, location, accessibility, and more. Whether or not that means we renovate on the current site, or build on a new site, or both, remains to be determined.

Time after time, when asked what they want to see in public facilities, Middletown residents repeat the same wishes: they want safe spaces for young people; meeting and gathering spaces of all sizes for all generations; equitable access to technology and opportunity for all; arts and culture venues; and safe/healthy/clean spaces.

To be honest, all of the above features describe a well-appointed 21st-century public library.

I hope you will make your voice heard during the next few months as we gather your input. Be sure to stay subscribed to our weekly e-newsletter for important updates and opportunities to give feedback. We need you!

-Ramona