The Harvard Public Library would like to have a permanent outdoor space in which to offer its programs, and the library’s board of trustees has begun the work of realizing that wish. The trustees will shepherd the pavilion to be built on library grounds through the town’s planning process.
Library Director Mary Wilson told the Press last week that in addition to hosting library programs—such as story times, crafting events, and teen and adult book groups—the space could also serve as a venue for other town events, much in the same way as Volunteers Hall hosts concerts, lectures, and other performances sponsored by the Friends of the Arts and Warner Free Lecture Trust.
Money for the project will not come from the library’s share of the town budget or from a capital request, but from the Harvard Public Library Trust, which was established in 1998. The trust accepts, holds, and manages the donations and bequests the library’s supporters have made over the years. While the trust was nearly emptied to help build the new library 16 years ago, gifts since then have allowed the trust to grow substantially.
The trustees commissioned the Ayer-based firm RE-Architect to create several conceptual plans for the pavilion and have already presented the preferred design to the annual all-boards meeting last fall, as well as to the Select Board, the Historical Commission, and the Trustees of the Bromfield School, the entity that owns the land occupied by the library and its surroundings.
The Harvard Public Library’s mission statement
Through our programs, resources, volunteers, and staff, the Harvard Public Library enhances the quality of life for all in the community by encouraging personal and intellectual growth in a welcoming, comfortable environment.
Preliminary plans call for an open rectangular pavilion, 30 by 40 feet, held up by metal poles and sheltered by a sloping, gray metal roof lined with a wooden interior ceiling. It would be built near the corner of the field, close to the library’s parking lot entrance, so as not to interfere with town activities on the field, such as Fourth of July and the Flea Market. The front and sides of the pavilion would be mostly open, while the back would have wooden-slat sliding doors. A large ceiling fan would help control mosquitos.
Although open-air story times, craft sessions, and book groups were a necessity between 2020 and 2022, the library trustees had been looking into expanding and improving the library’s outside space even before the pandemic struck, as part of a five-year strategic plan. Stacie Cassat Green, chair of the library trustees, said there is a national trend among libraries to create places where people can be with one another in a community setting—beyond home or the workplace. The trustees, she said, asked themselves, “How might we better use our outdoor spaces to serve the library’s mission and the community?”The trustees have already received a certificate of appropriateness from the Historical Commission to install seasonal sail awnings to shade the patio, which has beautiful views to the pond but with a sometimes punishing dose of sun. Members of the trustees’ teen advisory group sparked the idea for the sails and for slightly bigger tables. “They told us the tables are too small to hold two laptops,” said Library Director Mary Wilson.
The electrified pavilion will also store—out of sight—tables, chairs, and some other equipment the librarians have had to lug out to the open-air tent used for programs since the beginning of the pandemic. That will not only benefit the community, Wilson said, but will be appreciated by the children’s librarians. “They won’t miss hauling the 150-foot extension cords out to the tents,” she said.
A rendering of the proposed library pavilion that would be on the southeast side of the library. (Courtesy photo)
