"The Library is delighted to announce that we have selected an attractive, wooded site on Water Street east of the Nobscot Plaza and across from the Hemenway School for the proposed new McAuliffe Branch Library. Purchase will be contingent upon receipt of construction grant from the Mass Board of Library Commissioners. The back of the site abuts the proposed Bruce Freeman rail trail," said Ruth Winett, chair of the Board of Library Trustees.
 
The town issued an RFP for land for the new branch and received two bids. "On November 30, after a lengthy discussion on the merits of the two sites, the Library's Building Committee voted unanimously to recommend the Water Street site. The Library Trustees voted unanimously to purchase the Water Street site," Winett said.

The Christa McAuliffe Branch Library has one of the highest usage rates of any branch library in Massachusetts with 12,000 patron visits a month and 10 times the circulation of a comparable branch.  The McAuliffe is the second busiest of the 106 branch libraries in Massachusetts following Coolidge Corner, which added a large addition.

Issues at the McAuliffe Branch, according to its Web site, include:

• The collection is crammed into high, inaccessible shelves.
• The aisles are not wide enough for wheel chairs.
• Restrooms are not handicapped accessible.
• No space is available for tutoring sessions.
• The children's area has too little space to set up computers or comfortably hold story hours.
• The periodicals section is extremely limited.
• The young adult section has no computers, no study area, and is limited to a single aisle of books.
• Book discussions must take place in areas where people could be trying to study.
• The four computers available for adults and children do not satisfy the demand.

Clearly, the space is being used to its maximum so when an opportunity for expansion arose via a construction grant, the town's elected Library Trustees  jumped at the chance.  The construction grant was submitted to Fall Town Meeting as Article 11. Town Meeting passed the article 104-13, with two abstentions. 

A Library Foundation has been formed and consists of nine members, said Winett. Four members are Library Trustees: Jo-Anne Thompson, Elizabeth Fideler, Nancy Coville-Wallace and Winett. Five members are community representatives including Grace Corrigan (mother of Christa McAuliffe), Jason Smith, Tim Sullivan, Bob Collini and a fifth member yet to be named.

This Library Foundation will work "to put things in place" Winett said, as they move through this process of expansion.  

The biggest concern to many residents is the cost. Ed Feather, father of two elementary school students in town said, "I do worry about the cost of something like this. The town is struggling so badly right now, especially with the schools, but if it helps the kids in the community one way or another it's a good thing."

Despite the cost concerns many agree expansion is desperately needed.

Resident Jennifer Levitan, a mother of two, said,"The current library is so small we usually just go to get and return books.  We don't often spend a lot of time there, like we would at the Main Library or Goodnow Library in Sudbury.  An expanded library would make visiting and staying much nicer."

 "We usually visit the main Framingham library downtown because there is a larger selection of books for the kids to choose from. They usually take out about 15 books at a time and read all of them over and over. We visit the McAuliffe Branch Library probably a few times a year. It is a nice branch but I do agree it could be bigger and have more selection. I also noticed the last time I was there that there were a lot of older kids there using it as a study location. I thought that was pretty cool," said Feather

The next step in the process likely will include a request for a Special Town Meeting in January where the Trustees will ask for approval of the new library branch design and land purchase.