Melrose Library Needs An Upgrade, For Equity And Safety's Sake

MELROSE, MA — There are still a ton of questions about the Melrose Public Library renovation project.

What would the library look like? Where would it temporarily relocate to? How would the city pay for the part that's not being covered by a grant? (Contrary to a recent remark by this reporter, it will not be via debt exclusion.)

But there is also a mountain of questions about the library as is.

Why are people in wheelchairs expected to use a 76-foot ramp tucked in the back of the 117-year-old building? How are they expected to get down the skinny aisles between book shelves? Where should the children's books go when the air conditioning from the floor above leaks? Where should anything go when the rain drips through the roof? How are emergency responders supposed to navigate the unmarked labyrinth in a crisis?

The library is in dire need of significant upgrades, a recent tour through the library made apparent. Most of those upgrades aren't just a coat of paint or a new ceiling fan. And some of them — once they start — need to be comprehensive enough to bring the aging building into ADA compliance.

Whether those upgrades come via the proposed renovation or not will be known over the next several months, as the city looks to secure some $12 million in funding by Jan. 10 to take advantage of an $8 million state grant. The City Council would need to authorize a bond.

The library, like several other past-their-prime public buildings in Melrose, is not up to the task of providing equitable, safe services in 2021.

Patrons see the issues as soon as they walk up to the building. There's three steps to get to the front door, and once you're in there's one staircase up to the main floor, one staircase down to the children's room. Good luck bringing a stroller down into the children's room. And better luck getting anywhere in a wheelchair.

Someone in a wheelchair could make their way to the back of the building to a 76-foot ramp — it's even longer than it sounds — and if it's covered in ice, forget it. If you can make it into the building from the back, you get spit out into an all-purpose room with no one to greet you and no signage on how to get to the front desk.

If you walked up the ramp, you can take a rest in the "endurance chair," placed at the request of a patron exhausted from the journey.

The inaccessibility continues when you're in the building. Some of the narrow aisles are simply off-limits to people using any sort of wheelchair and even some walking aides. That goes for the children's room bathrooms, as well.

The tiny elevator helps — when it's working. The 38-year-old lift was out of action for two months after the pandemic started and failed again recently. Library Director Linda Gardener likened it to an old car you keep throwing new parts in. Eventually, it's time for a new car.

Seemingly every room has some indication of water damage. Many do not do well in big rain or snow storms. One recent deluge soaked into the library's local history room, threatening irreplaceable pieces of the city's past. A book from nearly a century and a half ago had the aftereffects of mold.

Part of the reason the damage wasn't worse than it was is because Gardener spent the night moving the fragile material. In fact, she so busy doing it that she missed the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners' decision to approve the grant for her library.

The grant would help fund the first significant renovation for the library in 30 years, and likely its biggest changes since an addition was constructed in 1963.

The children's room would no longer be in the basement, but rather the second floor with plenty of natural sunlight. Community meetings and other programming wouldn't be held in a small room where "Toddler Time" is usually held.

The teenagers who work together in sometimes noisier groups wouldn't be sharing space with the general patrons, but rather have their own rooms "so they can do their appropriate work without becoming disruptive," Gardener said. More than 60 teens use the library on a busy afternoon, she said.

The library would be easier to navigate, with more wayfinding, and safer, with fire extinguishers that aren't in the middle of the library (not where you want to be running if there's a fire.)

"There is a point at which safety standards are not what they should be," Gardener said.

There's no air conditioning on the top floor, aside for the historical room where dozens of old items are laid out to dry off. The heat makes the top floor the last place someone wants to be during the worst of the summer.

The proposed improvements aren't just for the kids reading Dr. Seuss or the seniors thumbing through the newspaper. Working professionals have flocked to the library more and more over the last decade, bringing laptops and using it as that day's office. Roughly 180,000 people used the library the year preceding the pandemic.

The content inside the library — books, DVDs, other resources — aren't the issue. It's the bones. The library has served generations of Melrosians, but now Gardener hopes to see the historic building both preserved and restored.

"It's not just a Band-Aid situation," she said.

That much is inarguable.

Mike Carraggi can be reached at mike.carraggi@patch.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi. Subscribe to Melrose Patch for free local news and alerts and like us on Facebook