By Mark Bialczak
LPL Communications Specialist
Visitors to the Liverpool Public Library will find a new world awaiting in the Carman Community Room when they walk through the Second Street door and veer right.
Staffers have carefully crafted a well-stocked mini library to serve the community while the LPL’s main room is closed for its transformation.
Until the main room is ready to open again come fall, patrons will be served in the CCR and Children’s Room, with regular LPL hours and just about all of the features library users have come to expect.
Yes, the Carman Community Room is stocked with MediaBank to dispense videos and games, public computers, bookshelves to hold Lucky Day and new titles, large print as well as a good assortment of all our usual collections. There is also a one-stop reference and circulation desk.
Good things can come for community members who stop by the LPL during the temporary change, say staffers who will be working closely with them.
“I think having the reference librarian and circulation clerk in one area is a good preview of what you’ll have in the new library,” says LPL Director Glenna Wisniewski. “A one-stop information desk will be a good thing, and it will be about the same size.”
Working at that desk in the Carman Community Room “will allow personalized attention in close quarters,” says Community Engagement librarian Laurel Griffith.
Fellow Community Engagement librarian Keith Gatling compares the CCT to a pop-up library.
“This is what a little library we’d set up in, say, Seneca Mall, would be like,” Gatling says. “Everybody can learn from this.”
And Community Engagement librarian Deanna McGregor says the setup isn’t that different from several OCPL branches, particularly Paine branch in Eastwood, where she’s worked previously.
“I’m calling it the cozy library,” she says. “I’m looking at it as a positive thing. I’m pretty sure we’re offering the same services as the smaller [OCPL] branches. This whole [renovation] situation is like a garden. Now we take care of the seed. The rest of the plant will come.”
Collections, Information and Readers Services librarian Ginny Withers says everything will be more visible to all in the CCR. “I think people might see more of our services because we’re compact, and they might find things they’ve never used before,” Withers said. “More people who’ve never gone into the Children’s Room might go see what’s in there. And maybe more people will want to find out about how they can use our databases on our website [LPL.org] if they can’t find a [reference] book they’re looking for on the shelves.”
The camaraderie can be good for all, says fellow CIRS librarian Liz Siegal. “You can get to know your neighbor better and get to know your librarian better,” she said.
Children and Family Services Librarian Alison McCarthy says she and fellow CFS librarian Joellyn Murry will be listening to what patrons tell them the next several months.
“We’ll get the chance to find out what people miss in the collection,” McCarthy says, “what parts of our collection people are valuing.”
Circulation department coordinator Margaret Sanchez says things should go as smoothly as they possibly can for patrons the next several months.
“This is a nice setup,” Sanchez said of the Carman Community Room. “We were thinking of patrons’ safety. The teamwork is almost seamless. My vision is that people won’t have to be all over the place.”
There’s still plenty of room left to dream about what’s to come when the new main room reopens with a new look and feel.
“I think there’s anticipation building for the new space,” says Assistant Director Susan Reckhow.
Details and updates can be found at lpl.org/about-lpl/about-us/renovations/.
