With construction in the last stages of completion, the library staff, trustees, and building committee are switching focus from design and project management to restoring educational, recreational and cultural services.
We are confident that the newly finished library is bursting with natural light and the warm, earthy tones of Aroostook, soon to be decorated with comfortable and sturdy furniture and a curved staircase that is situated in an impressive entryway.
Original artwork was carefully selected to showcase our rich agricultural and cultural diversity will grace the walls and accentuate the millwork and architectural highlights. We are at approximately 85 percent completed with a scheduled completion date for inside the building at the end of March. For outside landscaping and walkways, it will require that the ground be ready so a grand opening will happen late spring or early summer.
We see our goals of being a welcoming place of beauty taking shape and that we responded to what patrons said about not enough quiet seating areas away from the inevitable bustle of a community gathering place — teens need their own space that is neither too youngish or an adult space, and there simply are not enough computers.
The new shelving is more accessible than ever with shorter stacks that are easily reached and it will be very obvious how to navigate your way from one floor to the other with the expansive staircase and elevator. At the time of this writing, Phase 1 (the Mezzanine) and Phase 2 (the Main floor) are almost complete. With the demolition and subsequent renovation, here are a few highlights:
Exciting times in the next few weeks with a finished dedicated teen center. The teen center is a gathering space specifically for young adults with furnishings, books, computers, and conference room designed with their unique needs at the forefront. After school, it is not unusual to see 20 to 30 teen visitors. Developing their sense of place within a community is perhaps one of the best investments we can make into our economic and sustainable future.
The great livingroom area under the Mezzanine is an open concept space for reading or quiet visiting and will have ample seating, warm lighting, and be centrally located to the staircase, cafe-like area, fiction, periodicals, and the new circulation desk. The room is designed so that you can read but you can also be social. Much of the furniture compliments the Howard and Espa Michaud Quiet Reading Room and is custom built for striking beauty and longevity.
Reading is the hallmark for what we do in the minds of many and it is rightfully perceived as such. Alongside reading is having a gathering place where your socioeconomics, viewpoints, and affiliations matter less than your desire to connect, learn, and enjoy life. Our new library space exemplifies a community “space between the timbers” that welcomes community members, citizens, patrons, and our visitors in a way that can make us all very proud to be in The County and, what is more, part of a dynamic effort to improve lives through cultural innovation.
Next Phase the focus is on children’s services, the entryway, and the newly-designed conference room. To follow progress, please give us a call (207.764.2571), visit (39 Second Street), or follow us in one or all of our online social media spaces (https://www.facebook.com/presqueislelibrarians).
Sonja Plummer-Morgan is librarian at the Turner Memorial Library in Presque Isle. She can be reached at 764-2571 or via email at sonjapmorgan@presqueisleislelibrary.org.
