Jones Library for Everyone

07/13/2017

Jones Library For Everyone is delighted that the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners has endorsed the project to renovate and expand Amherst’s Jones Library with its grant of $13.8 million.

The MBLC grant is a lifeline to Amherst’s future. It gives its residents the opportunity to reinforce the central place of the Library at the heart of the town, at a cost not significantly greater than the cost of the Library’s badly needed physical repairs and updates.

Jones Library For Everyone looks forward to participating in the process to refine the Library project’s design and to helping secure the balance of the financing needed.

Jones Library For Everyone is an informal association of citizens formed in support of the project. For more information, contact Kent W. Faerber, [email protected], (413) 253-7931.

07/13/2017

"Austin Sarat, president of the library's board of trustees, said it's not a question of if the project will be funded, but when."

While the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners did not fund the Jones Library Building project in its initial round of funding, it did vote to support the project placing it on a wait list for future funding.

05/13/2017

Our town's school librarians support the Jones Library project -

To Whom It May Concern: As the five school librarians for the Amherst Public Schools and Amherst Regional Public Schools, we are writing in support of the proposed renovation and expansion of the…

05/12/2017

Read all about Jones Library for Everyone!

By Scott Merzbach A free library at the center of the community’s cultural and civic life was a vital consideration for Samuel Minot Jones in being the benefactor and namesake of the Jones Library.…

05/11/2017

Editorial in Amherst Bulletin supporting the Jones library renovation and expansion - "The library is not a place for the wealthy to congratulate themselves on their historic buildings and traditional architecture. The public library is where the community goes to improve itself."

Our public libraries are a testament to our shared cultural belief that access to information and community resources are paramount to our freedom, empowerment, and growth.For those of you who are…

05/10/2017

Jones Library ESL students explain why they support the library renovation and expansion.

We are students at the Jones Library ESL Center. We come to the library frequently to practice English and attend events. Many of us meet with one-to-one tutors here. We enjoy reading materials here,…

05/09/2017

Q: Who needs an expanded Jones Library?
A: We all do. And you know who REALLY needs it? (1) The town’s teens, who have no space in the library at all (2) The 25% of families with children in Amherst’s schools whose first language is not English (3) Residents who can't afford a computer (33% of Amherst’s residents live below the poverty level.) (4) Patrons with impaired mobility. For them, a lot of the current Library is just plain inaccessible.

(Photo by Oliver Scott)

05/08/2017

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: A library “renovation” without an expansion achieves very little (if anything) at a very high cost to the Town. How high? A renovation on its own would probably cost the same as the Town’s share of the proposed renovation+expansion under the grant. That's bad news, but it gets worse. Making the stacks ADA compliant within the current library footprint would require shrinking the space allotted to the Library's current programs and offerings: ESL, children, teens, computer workstations, etc. In providing these services, the Library provides a non-commercial gathering space and cost-free resources that are essential to the Library and to our town's unique culture. The MBLC has clearly signaled that it would not fund a smaller project. They have made it clear what their primary interests are: library programs, and the sq. ft. assigned to them. As anyone who has designed a building or house understands, the parts all interact, so moving programs around is a lot more complicated than it looks. Our chances of getting a grant are excellent both because of the historic renovation component AND because the MBLC has indicated that our present building arrangement is “dysfunctional.”

05/04/2017

FACT CHECK: The first sentence of Wednesday's Daily Hampshire Gazette article about the Jones Library renovations report contains an important error. The Library repair estimate does NOT include making the Library ADA compliant. The report can be found at http://joneslibrary.org/buildingproject
Please see section II, item 5, of Project Qualifications & Clarifications page.

04/24/2017

What does it mean for a Town Meeting member to vote “Yes” on Warrant Article 23? A "yes" vote agrees that the Jones Library should compete for a grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC). It also green-lights the PRELIMINARY design that was submitted with Jones' grant proposal. If the Jones is lucky enough to win an MBLC grant, then just three parts of the design will be firm: (1) the site location (We're not moving the library!); (2) the total square footage (64,758 sq. ft.); and the services offered by the library (children, teens, special collections, ESL, etc.) and the amount of floor space dedicated to each. Voting "Yes" on Warrant Article 23 does NOT commit the town to appropriating any funding needed to implement the grant.

The Jones Library has submitted an application for a grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (the MBLC) that will provide a substantial portion of the costs of a badly needed renovation and expansion of the Library.

04/23/2017

Do you have questions about the proposed Jones Library renovation and expansion? Please ask!