New McAuliffe Library Could Open Before Main Library Repairs Are Complete

FRAMINGHAM, MA - The main library has an estimated $1 million worth of damage from the explosion in October and will not re-open in 2015, according to Town officials.

The main Framingham Library has “significant damage to the electrical system” said Town Manager Bob Halpin.

Two contract workers were injured in an ”electrical explosion” at the Framingham Library on a Saturday morning in October. One was treated and released with second degree burns in October. The other had second and third degree burns on 36 percent of his body.

Repairs have yet to begin and one reason is all the investigations.

First the state’s fire marshal needed to complete his investigation. Then, the federal agency Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) needed to conduct its investigation. Followed, by the insurance companies’ investigations.

Library Director Mark Contois has had to make lots of adjustments with the main library at 49 Lexington Street closed since late October.

The McAuliffe branch in Saxonville has added hours, including Sundays; and a pop-up library has opened in the former St. Stephen’s School in downtown framingham.

Programming has also had to be re-located.

Concerts have been held at the senior center, events at the Memorial Building, and the library’s Homework Center is operating out of the Boys & Girls Club of MetroWest on Pearl Street.

Contois said when the new McAuliffe Library under construction opens - slated for early 2016 - programming that was at the main library may move to that Water Street library in the Nobscot section of town, until the main Library re-opens.

A soft opening of the new McAuliffe Library branch is expected at the end of January, with a grand opening celebration planned for the spring of 2016.

As of the end of November, the new library branch, named for Christa Corigan McAuliffe - the first teacher in space, was on time and on budget.

January 28, 2016, will be the 30th anniversary of McAuliffe’s death when the NASA space shuttle Challenger exploded.