Amenia Free Library Opening

“A joyous celebration” is the way Amenia Free Library director Victoria Herow describes the upcoming grand opening of the recently completed library addition and renovation on Saturday, Nov. 19, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The results of 30 years of planning and six years of hard work for the building at 3309 Route 343 in Amenia will come to fruition, as the library has expanded from its original late 1930s-era cramped 800 square feet to a roomy 32,000 square feet.

Herow said she believes that right from the initial construction, there was always a plan to grow, but that the idea really “took off in the early ‘90s with the planning and what we had to go through to do that and raise the needed dollars through donations and grants.”

She feels it is especially important for residents to understand that all the costs of the work were covered through that fundraising, and that no tax dollars were used. Instead, public money pays for the normal library expenses.

Remembering checking out books as a child from librarian Miriam Devine, who served the community for 29 and a half years, Herow said: “This is a dream come true. We’ve been waiting for it for so long.”

Since the ground-breaking in August 2020, patrons and staff have been creative in using the varying space available to them while the work progressed in multiple phases, which, in addition to the construction of the new space, included major changes in the old section.

Those renovations took about a year to complete and involved moving everything to the new section once it was available for use. From there, patrons could see some of the changes in the old area as work progressed, but only with the grand opening will they have access to the whole facility.

Once the contents of the old section were transferred to the new, old walls were removed in order to open the area, now providing a spacious room. That area will hold the nonfiction collection and provide fully accessible Wi-Fi for patrons’ device use, comfortable chairs for lounging and reading, and a large flat-top screen for presentations and movies.

Herow noted that in addition to other collections, the new section will house tables and chairs for both work and lounging, desks, and four desktop computers for public use.

With the additional space, she said, it will “be easier for people to be in the building and also more space to do work without interference from our regular operations. There’s just more chance to stay and work.”

She explained: “Our kids’ area is much larger. Our collection is all on shelves. Before, we had books everywhere … We were at our capacity and now we have room to spread out.”

She noted that the new space will allow opportunities for an increased number of onsite programs that were previously nearly “impossible” to present. She said: “We could only do things like outdoors in the summer or nicer weather. Or we had to do programming offsite, which was doable, but people didn’t know who was hosting it.”

Now, she noted, “this will pretty much allow our programming to increase exponentially,” adding that, in the year the new section has been open, the library has been able to offer numerous programs including story time and crafting events. “There will be a lot more at the library. It’s just opening up everything we can do. We even have a patio and a backyard that is fenced in so we can do things outside and won’t have kids running out of the area.”

Adjacent parking is available for the first time.

As the space is expanding, she expects that staffing may also be increased, as there will be additional opportunities for more volunteers to become involved.

Despite changes, however, Herow ssidd that, just as in her younger years: “We know the library is a good place to come in town. People have been coming here for years … They know they can come and we can help them out. That’s always been the same. “

For more information, call (845) 373-8273 or go to amenialibrary.org.