Beyond Books: Stamford Library plans new facility to serve growing needs
By Elizabeth DeFalco – The Reporter 10.31.24
STAMFORD – “I get a lot of ‘Do people still use libraries?’ – and to those people, I really encourage them to come in, go to a library on almost any given day and you’ll see people coming in for a variety of reasons,” Stamford Library Director Erika Eklund said.
The Stamford Library, currently at 117 Main Street, is an active community space that offers over 41,000 collection items for card holders to access, almost 270 programs for all age ranges, copies and prints, free high-speed wifi and public computer use.
To ensure the library continues to be a place for all, and has the room to expand along with the needs and wants of community, the Stamford Library is planned to be relocated to a new building at the vacant lot on the corner of West Main Street, a one-way street, and Lake Street, where the former New Grant House hotel was located.
More than books
While the Stamford Library offers an extensive collection of over 41,240 items, including 21,501 printed materials, 2,543 DVDs, games, and puzzles, and 17,196 electronic materials, according to the 2023 annual report, patrons can find much more packed within the 2,700 square-foot space.
“We consider ourselves to be more of a community center with lots of books,” Eklund said. “We’re not quiet. We play music. We encourage kids to play. If you come in looking for quiet space, we do have space we can dedicate to that, but we just really want to encourage people to come in and be who they are.”
The library’s board of trustees and staff pride themselves on the library serving as an essential third-space for the community, Eklund said. A third space is a place that is not home or work that you can visit and not spend money, she explained.
“You can play games. You could read books. You could be in the community on the computers. You can just enjoy the several little micro-communities that form at the library,” she continued.
Special program events offered at the library include Mocktails and Masterpieces painting series, Earth Day “Trail Tale” story walk, a community tie-dye party, a sourdough breadmaking workshop, sewing series, home and financial wellness series, afternoon tea, youth theater workshops, and more.
In addition to planned special events for children, young adults, and adults, many groups have organically formed at the library including a thriving Dungeons & Dragons club, a young adult group, a parents group, homework club, adult crafternoons, and other social groups that gather at the library, Eklund said.
The library also hosts several community information sessions or programs for services like radon prevention, scam prevention, first-time homebuyer programs, youth employment programming with CDO Workforce, services for older adults with Delaware County Office for the Aging, insurance sign-ups, and many more community services, Eklund said.
The library also hosts a book club at the senior housing complex in Stamford, she said, and offers seniors digital literacy help like how to use a tablet to listen to audiobooks and access other digital resources.
In 2023, 10,833 people visited the library, there were 1,359 registered library card holders, 14,448 items were circulated – or checked out – and 2,573 people attended various programs throughout the year, the report states.
The library has outgrown its current space at 117 Main Street, Eklund said from her desk in the shared office/storage/staff kitchen/donation processing room. “We’re really constrained currently by the space we have.”
In addition to a lack of space, there is only one bathroom, no dedicated parking spaces for library patrons, and heavy vehicular traffic that passes by the Main Street location poses a safety risk to those exiting vehicles with young children, Eklund said.
The current building is owned by the village of Stamford, which hampers library trustees from securing state or federal grant funding for building upgrades, Eklund added.
“It’s time to move into a new space,” she said.
A plan for expansion
The proposed approximate 6,000 square-foot facility will address many of the current constraints placed on the library by its current building footprint, Eklund explained. To begin, the library will own the new building and opens the ability to secure state and federal grants in the future, she said.
The library purchased the vacant lot at the intersection of West Main and Lake streets in September 2022.
The main portion of the proposed new building will offer an expansive adult/young adult collections space with a computer room, multiple reading bay windows, and a display space for new items, Eklund explained. It will also include two bathrooms, both ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)-compliant, and a children’s library dedicated to children’s books, games, and programming, Eklund said.
With the additional space in the main library, Eklund said staff would like to eventually offer gaming programs, coding courses for children, robotics programs, and possibly a 3D printer.
On the left side of the proposed structure is a planned activity/program/community room that Eklund envisions as a space for community use to host presentations or a community art show, for example.
A second entrance will provide access to the community room, bathrooms, kitchenette, and proposed reading garden after-hours, Eklund said. A door connecting the community space and the main library will be locked at night, she said, so community members using the space cannot access the main library outside of operating hours.
The new building will also feature a director’s office, Eklund said, and a drop box for books which will prevent them from being weather-damaged. A parking lot with 22 parking spaces, three accessible ADA-compliant parking spaces, a bike service station and bike rack, and a drop-off zone is also proposed to be constructed, Eklund said.
An archaeological study was completed at the proposed building site and no evidence of historical significance requiring preservation was found, Eklund said. The site is located in the Churchill historic district, she explained, “So we really wanted to make sure that the design of the building was cohesive with the other dwellings in that area.”
The proposed building will have a “craftsman” look to it, Eklund said, matching the aesthetic of surrounding residential homes.
“It’s just incredibly exciting, not just for library-specific activities, but for the community in general,” Eklund said.
Paying the bill
Library trustees and staff are seeking project partners, funders, granters, and charitable donations in order to raise funds for the estimated $4.5 million new building and relocation project without impacting taxpayers, Eklund said. Eklund clarified that no money raised in taxes will be used toward construction of the building.
The library is chartered by the state to serve the Stamford Central School District, she explained. A small amount is raised in taxes by taxpayers who live within the Stamford school district for the library each year, which covers payroll expenses, Eklund said; payroll expenses account for nearly 50% of the library’s annual operating costs at approximately $110,000, according to the library’s 2023 tax filing.
The Stamford Library has raised $707,157 toward the new building and relocation project so far, Eklund said, through a combination of private donations and foundation support. In fiscal year 2023-2024, the state Department of Library Development awarded Stamford Library a $242,957 grant for site preparation work, preliminary grading, utility improvements, and safety fencing, Eklund said.
The library also received a $200,000 grant award from Robinson Broadhurst Foundation, Stamford, she said.
In September, the library applied for a second round of state Department of Library Development funds in the amount of $608,241 to cover costs of installing an HVAC system in the new building, Eklund said; a decision is expected in fall of 2025.
The site preparation work will be complete in 2025, Eklund said.
“But after that, we pretty much need the total cost of the construction to move forward because you can’t just build some of it. It’s really dependent on having those funds in hand,” she said.
Library trustees and staff have a move-in goal of late 2026 or early 2027, Eklund said.