Earlier this week, Bob Horvath, Director of the Talbot County Free Library offered the Spy a sneak preview tour of the newly renovated library in Easton, which is set to open on May 5.
From the moment you step into the new library, you’ll sense changes. Big changes. The entryway has been expanded, restrooms are enlarged, and the space is airy and vibrant. In contrast to the old, dark wood, everything in the new library is sunny and bright, with clerestory windows bringing ambient daylight throughout, and new lighting fixtures adding illumination everywhere. All the new shelving is white – a stark contrast from the old black shelves, and with the exception of two old handsome carved wood doors from the Talbot County Council that now open into the Frederick Douglass Room, all of the doors, wall and floor coverings are bright and new.
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It’s evident that the architects were thinking about Easton’s place on the Bay in designing the interior of the new library, as the carpet in the computer room appears as water, and shades of blue flooring undulate as a discovery path or a guide – visual aids leading visitors subconsciously throughout the facility like a river. Interior brick archways surround the new computer room, giving the space a feeling of the outside coming in. The yellow steel skeletal structure appears throughout the building, and is reminiscent of a bridge structure – again, fitting Easton’s place on the Bay. Even the new landscaping outside reflects the meandering curves of a river.
Big changes are in store for historians, with the Maryland Room and the Frederick Douglass Room completely changed – a fresh new look, handsome new handcrafted furniture and extra space for collections. A separate room for the library’s extensive map collection is in place, with a non-water sprinkler system to protect the rare books and maps. Three private study rooms will offer space for individuals and small groups to gather and work together.
Teenagers will have their own spot in this new facility, with long countertops offering space for laptops and seating designed to fit teen needs. Horvath laughed when asked why the teen spot is placed smack in the center of the main library room “Libraries aren’t quiet spaces anymore. Libraries are places where people come to meet up with their neighbors, share information and learn”, he said. “Many people don’t know it, but even now, library useage continues to rise”, he said, “with more and more people using library computers for job searching, taking online classes, even downloading books”. Story hours, community meetings and meet-ups take place every day in libraries across the nation – the computer age may have shifted the way we get information, but brick and mortar libraries are increasingly used as community “third places”, more than ever before.
But the biggest excitement of all has to be the new children’s wing. Bright green round floor lights set into blue ribbons of flooring lead children straight into their own library – with separate restrooms, a children’s librarian sitting behind a round porthole-like window, and fun artsy light fixtures dangling down in the windows. A door leads out to an enclosed brick courtyard garden, which will be developed under the experienced eye of Mary Frances Packard, President of the Library Board of Trustees along with a local Garden Club. At night, colorful lights will shine throughout the children’s library space, reminding those inside and out that this library is a place for discovery and fun.
The facility is green, as well, state-of-the-art. With all new systems including a hundred wells for geothermal heating and cooling, new insulated, low e-glazed windows, bamboo flooring throughout and high recycled fiber carpets, almost all of the materials used in this renovation were made within 500 miles of the site. “We kept our taxpayers money right here”, says Horvath, “it’s about jobs and it’s about local suppliers.”
Staff offices are large and new, with plenty of space for work, and nicely furnished spaces for the Director and his assistants are ready to move in. A separate parking lot sits above the geothermal and stormwater management systems, and will allow easy access for the dozens of trucks that come in and out each week.
In the enlarged community room, which is equipped with a new projector system for community presentations, sit row after row of cardboard boxes. Each numbered and carefully labeled, these hold some of the library’s new collection. As part of this renovation and transformation, all of the library holdings were evaluated, and thousands of volumes are being replaced with new material in every category – from classics to new fiction and reference materials all brought up to date, to video and digital offerings as well – there will be a lot of new content in the new library.
All that’s left is the big move itself. Library staff members have already been through the new collections, ensuring that each box holds what it’s supposed to hold. At the library’s temporary site, preparations are underway to pack up and move every single book, map, reference material, magazine and dvd to the new building. Luckily, professional library moving companies do this monumental task day in and day out. The new library will be open on May 5th. Talbot County residents will have a lot to explore and discover in this exciting new place – a new Talbot treasure.
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