A March 2024 focus group on building expansion inside the Porter Memorial Library. Director Nicole Daviau is on the right. Two focus groups are planned in January and February in Town Hall.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter
BLANDFORD — The Porter Memorial Library is seeking public input for its building expansion plan at two upcoming focus groups, designed to provide an opportunity for residents to dream and brainstorm about what they would like to see in the future library. These will take place in the Town Hall on Wed., Jan. 22 from 4-5 p.m. and on Sat., Feb. 1 from 10-11 a.m.
The library received a Small Libraries in Networks Grant of $125,000 in October from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, after the town voted unanimously at a special town meeting on March 18 to authorize a local match for the funds. The grant is for planning and architectural design for library expansion.
Since receiving the grant, Porter Memorial Library Director Nicole Daviau said the library has formed a building committee charged with representing the community, and working together with the director, library trustees and an independent consultant, helping to create a building plan, which is due to the MBLA by February 2026.
“Currently our building is not able to support the interest we have [from the community] in attending our programs. It is not up to code for accessibility and safety, and we do not have the facility space to allow us to work in an efficient way,” Daviau said.
Daviau said the priorities they have heard so far from residents is to maintain the historic integrity and charm of the building, built in 1892, and make sure to keep the parts that exist already that makes the building unique. “Anything we build, we want to honor that and not detract from the existing building; that keeps in the spirit of the initial building and does not take away from its historic quality and charm.”
The committee has hired Library Building Consultant Patricia Bassier, a former library director who previously went through an expansion process, who is not part of the MBLA.
“Her role will be to help compile all of the information from community focus groups and surveys to create an envisioning of what our community wants and needs in the future library,” Daviau said.
Bassier will be compiling the information from the focus groups and surveys, which will be added to her knowledge of library services and her experiences. She will take that information and, working with a yet to be hired owner’s project manager and architect, use the data to create a plan that will meet the needs of the library in the future.
Daviau said the purpose of the in person focus groups is to get everybody together from the community to discuss what they want from the community library, and to brainstorm. She said when somebody has a good idea, that spurs other ideas.
In addition to the focus groups, beginning now through Feb. 1, boards will be posted at the library, Town Hall, post office and transfer station with pictures of different options for areas in the future library. Residents are asked to put sticker dots on things that they would like to see in the future library space. Options include study rooms, a meeting and programming space, a teen and children’s room, among others. Surveys about current library use are also available at all of the locations and online.
“Community feedback is really important — the more people who are present, the more ideas that will come out of that to serve future needs,” Daviau said. She said the committee wants everybody’s voices heard and needs understood so they are best able to serve the community.
Daviau said this year, they will be actively designing and planning for future library expansion. By February 2026 she said the committee will have a shovel-ready plan to present to the town and to the MBLC.
“At the end, we will present the design to the town, who will have been intimately involved. The town will vote on whether to do actual construction. If they vote to proceed, we will be able to take grant funding and go forward,” Daviau said, adding that as long as the plan is approved by the MBLC, “There is no reason that we would not get a grant for the construction phase. They want to make sure when they invest the money in planning and design they will be able to construct it.”
“The more times we can tell people to come out — their opinion has so much value. This project is a reflection of our community; we can make sure our community knows that. When it comes time to vote, people will see their project and be invested. We want to make sure that everybody sees themselves reflected in this. We want to serve our community and meet their needs, and the library building we have right now is constraining our ability to do that,” Daviau said.
