The current Wadsworth Public Library building has been open for around 20 years. Over the years, they have made minor changes to the layout. Now they can make bigger changes to the building.
The new library renovation project costs $1.9 million. This money has been saved over the last couple of years, so they did not have to go to the voters to get it. Some of the plans for the renovations have been long in the making through their community feedback sessions. The formal plan came to be around 2024.
“This first phase is about upkeep, improving the things we already have and making them more accessible, giving back some space to the public because we have too much staff space… so making better use with what we have for the public,” said Daniel Slife, director of the Wadsworth Library.
They have been able to shorten their staff, meaning that they do not need the amount of space that they had for the staff. They will remove some of the staff space and turn it into space available for the public.
The main thing that they want to do is make more space for people to gather. They will make more study rooms and bigger meeting rooms for the community’s use.
“These meeting rooms during the day, they’re often empty, but when we get the peak need, we turn people away who need study space, quiet rooms, we turn community groups away,” Slife said. “You can come here any night of the week, and we’ll be shoving people in staff rooms because we have so many community groups that are trying to be here.”
More meeting space will allow more groups to get together at the library at the same time, so they don’t have to turn anyone away.
“I bring my kids to story time, and I am part of a mom’s group where we come and meet in one of the meeting rooms downstairs,” Trisha Cerveny, a visitor at the Wadsworth Public Library, said.
One area that is getting a big renovation is the teen area. In the past couple of years, more teens have been going to the library to work on group projects. They want to make more space for them to work together. They want this area to be done around the beginning of the school year next year, so students can have access to it.
Another area that is getting a big renovation is the courtyard. They are going to make the courtyard pleasant with reading areas. There is going to be a meeting room with folding doors to make the space open into the courtyard, so it is connected.
This is phase one of a two-phase project. They are hoping to have phase one done by Dec. 2025. Then, they will have to get phase two approved before starting. Phase two involves moving the people and collections that are currently in a separate building and moving them into the library’s basement. This would open up that building to make it into a community workshop and maker space.
Currently, there are very few interruptions for visitors at the library. There are no books in the teen section of the library. The history room is closed for now, but you can still access these resources; you just have to ask about it.
