One icon closes, another opens
After 120 years of service to the town, the Harvard Public Library on Fairbank Street will close its doors for the last time March 10. But after the familiar wooden door closes to the public at 4 p.m., the venerable building will teem with activity in preparation for a move to the new library at a restored and expanded Old Bromfield.
Library custodian Eddie Stoffel cleans up the walkway in front of the library after last Friday’s heavy, wet snowstorm. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Between the March 10 closing at Fairbank Street and the April 7 ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Harvard Public Library’s new home, library staff will organize, pack, and supervise the professional library movers who will transfer the 55,000-item collection, computer equipment, and selected pieces of furniture to the new library.
The move comes after years of planning and one-and-a-half years of restoring and adding to Old Bromfield, a Mass. Avenue landmark that was designed in 1878 as Harvard’s first high school by Boston architects Peabody and Stearns. “It is the most magnificent building in this town, and the most architecturally significant,” declared Library Trustee and Building Committee Co-Chairman Roy Moffa.
No volunteer moving brigade
The shift across the street will be handled by a library relocation company, and will be funded entirely by the Library Trustees’ general fund, not by the building fund, Moffa emphasized. Computer and telephone installation at the new library will be paid for by the C/W MARS network of libraries: the service is included as part of the Harvard library’s membership in the network.
“The Finance Committee informed the trustees in fiscal year 2006 that the town would not pay to move the Harvard Public Library. They recommended we use volunteers, which for many reasons is not a realistic option.” Moffa said. “We didn’t have a choice [but to pay for the move.]” A volunteer corps was precluded, he said, by several factors, including the layout and organization of the library, the time line for moving, unpredictable March weather, and the possibility of injury to helpers, with attendant liability.
Library Director Mary Wilson elaborated on the decision. “Volunteers are a vital force throughout Harvard, but we cannot predict whether even the most devoted volunteer will be able to commit to the rigid, complicated schedule we have. And physically it’s a demanding job,” she said, noting that the elevator does not reach the third floor of the old library, and that both the front and back entrances are awkward to navigate without specialized equipment and unfailing agility. “Bonded professionals have the right equipment to safeguard our collections, and we avoid the possibility of a volunteer getting hurt,” she added. Speaking about the difficult third-floor stairway, Wilson and Moffa recalled their own and the staff’s many “stair carries” between floors, hauling books and furniture back and forth as they struggled to accommodate the library’s growing inventory.
What to take, what to leave behind
The library’s reading and reference material and electronics are not the only items that will cross the street. Patrons may be pleased that several familiar and beloved objects will follow the library to its new home, including the well-worn leather chairs in the “new book room,” as library staff call it; some heavy, turned-leg oak tables; and perhaps some artifacts stored on the third floor. The library will also keep its long-time phone number, inspiring Mary Wilson to declare that the library would continue its tradition of answering the phone before the fourth ring.
Whether the portraits of Julia and Warren Hapgood that sit over the library’s mantelpiece will make the move is, for now, unknown. “In a way, it is their building,” mused librarian Joanne Williamson, when her opinion was solicited. “I wonder if they will make the move or stay with their building?” Wilson and Moffa said the matter would be considered in due time, when there is more time for reflection and discussion.
One piece of artwork that will occupy a place of honor in the new library is the portrait of Margaret Bromfield Blanchard, which will hang in an alcove designed especially for her.
Blanchard is the woman who sponsored the 1877 construction of Old Bromfield, which was built as a secondary school.
Borrowing books between times
Between March 10 and April 7, library patrons can use their Harvard Public Library cards to borrow books from any library in the C/W MARS network, including the Ayer, Bolton, Boxborough, and Lancaster public libraries. According to an information sheet now available at the library, materials checked out from the Harvard Public Library before March 10 will have due dates in April and should be returned to the new library.
The library also advises that materials borrowed by interlibrary loan—with due dates between March 11 and April 9—should be returned to any library in the C/W MARS network. If applicable, some materials can also be renewed online at www.harvardpubliclibrary.org.
Closing commemoration and opening celebration
The Library Trustees will host a reception honoring the 120-year life of the Harvard Public Library at Fairbank Street. The public is invited to the library’s Hapgood Room between 2 and 4 p.m. Saturday, March 10, for refreshment and conversation. “It’s bittersweet, because we love this building. But it has outlived its usefulness,” remarked Mary Wilson.
Ginger Kendall, president of the Library Trust, described the April 7 opening celebration, which will start at about 1 p.m. at the old library. A parade of youngsters, each carrying a library book, will march down Mass. Avenue to “return” the books to the new library. “It’s a ceremonial parade, a symbolic transfer of our books from the old library to the new,“ said Kendall. After the parade, at 2 p.m., the public is invited to the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new library. The celebration will be sponsored by the Library Trust, Bromfield Trust, and Friends of the Harvard Public Library.
Future of the soon-to-be-former library
For the near future, the old library will likely be mothballed, but several groups are evaluating the best use of the building for the coming years. The Town Center Planning Committee, a subcommittee of the Planning Board, will continue to evaluate the building, according to member Tim Clark and Town Administrator Tim Bragan. In addition, the selectmen have created a task force, the Municipal Building Re-use Task Force, to study the old library, Town Hall, and Hildreth House. According to Clark, who is a member of the task force, the group will study the structural integrity and septic capacity of the library, and evaluate its adherence to current building and fire codes. This may take some time, Clark said, given the busy schedules of some volunteers on the task force.
Still, Harvard citizens can probably enjoy at least one more visit to the library this year. According to Wilson, Friends of the Library wants to hold its annual book sale at the old library, and soon expects the go-ahead from Bragan. She did not rule out the possibility that white elephants left over from the move could also be offered at the sale.
Anticipation, with a dash of trepidation
Meeting cheerfully with the Press directly after a Finance Committee meeting, both Wilson and Moffa admitted, when asked, to feeling some stress about the impending Town Meeting, where voters will consider the library’s operating budget. “The move will be the smoothest part of the transition, absolutely,” said Wilson, who contrasted the difficult financial news that haunts the town with the promise of a new library that she clearly adores. “I think this is the best story the town has seen in a long while. I hope people will consider this library the heart of our town, and gather there.”
Moffa emphasized the triumph of creating one exquisite library by restoring a crumbling architectural gem, Old Bromfield, and marrying it to a new, compatible addition. According to Moffa, no detail was insignificant. “When the construction guys said they would try to get the creaks out of the restored floor boards, the trustees said, ‘No! Leave the creaks! We want every creak these old boards have to give.”
The Harvard Public Library will open for business, creaky floors intact, April 9 at 10 a.m.
