Several Capital Region libraries are receiving state funding from the Library Construction Aid program.
Recipients include the Watervliet, Troy, and Waterford Public Libraries, which together received nearly half a million dollars.
State Assemblyman John McDonald, a Democrat whose 108th District includes several of the libraries, says the funding strengthens a vital community resource.
“The libraries are the heart and soul of our communities. And yes, they are supported by the taxpayers, but every once in a while, they need a little bit more support as well,” McDonald said.
Library Construction Aid grants cover 50 percent of a project’s cost, 75 percent in disadvantaged areas.
Republican Rensselaer County Legislator Tom Grant of District Two says libraries are there to help.
“I don’t know if there’s any facility, or any service that we provide that as, you know, governments or municipalities that really serves such a wide scope of people,” Grant said.
Grant says libraries are much more than just books.
“They’re utilized, like we talked about, for things like English as a Second Language. My parents learned how to work computers by going to the library, and there’s just so many services,” Grant said.
Grant says even with this funding, efforts to secure more will continue.
McDonald says that’s his goal.
“One of the things we continue to push in is more technology, more broadband access, and also more support for operations,” McDonald said.
But McDonald says there are points when the cost is too high for communities to handle on their own.
“They are beautiful buildings that sometimes when it comes down to municipal budgets, aren’t always being able to be supported to the degree the local government want to, so this is another tool in the shed,” McDonald said.
Waterford Library President Chris Connell says the funding will solve a decades-old problem.
“This means that we can stop the rain coming through our 125-year-old roof,” Connell said.
The library, a brick building that was formerly a railroad station, has a slate roof.
Library Director Tim McDonough says it’ll help preserve the library’s character.
“One of the draws for our library is the historic nature of the building, and obviously one of the most important responsibilities of myself and the board is to make sure that the infrastructure of the building is sound,” McDonough said.
After all, McDonough says everything starts with the walls and roof.
Connell says it’ll help the library rebound from the pandemic.
“We were one of the earliest libraries to do partial reopening and allow drive-by book borrowing, so we’re now coming back. Our children’s program this year really more than doubled the attendance we had last year,” Connell said.
Paul Hicok, Director of the Troy Public Library, says his library’s plans are similar.
“Well, the funding’s important since it allows us to put a new roof on the building,” Hicok said.
Hicok says the funding, with Troy receiving more than $170,000, is going just to the main branch, which he says is needed given the scope of work the roof will take.
Hicok says while the funding is a start, a recent Historic Structures Report showed the main library needs more work.
“You would be looking at, besides what we’ve already done, about at least four to five million for additional work on the historic building,” Hicok said.
Hicok says it’s mainly exterior repairs.
“Quite a bit of masonry work, quite a bit of parapet work in the roof area. That would be a large part of the expenses,” Hicok said.
There’s also work that was already underway.
“Right now, we’re actually working on a new HVAC system for the library through two grants. One, the ARPA grant, and the other a DRI grant. Both of them combined will cover the new HVAC system,” Hicok said.
DRI- Downtown Revitalization Initiative- grants were awarded by New York State in an effort to bring vibrancy back to cities’ downtowns across the state. The library was awarded $625,000 in December 2022 as part of an overall $9.7 million package granted to the city of Troy. Hicok says the cost of the HVAC system alone is estimated at $1.2 million. As for the rest of the money that the library would need, Hicok says they’ll need to come up with it.
Whitney Gitman, Interim Director of the Watervliet Public Library, says its portion of the funding, over $64,000, will help strengthen community outreach.
“We have three or four English classes that meet every week. We have knitting group, we have story time, which is a huge thing and only getting more and more popular. We have sporadic things like author visits. We just finished our summer reading program. We had the VIA Aquarium here, we had Uncharted Wild Animal Show. We were lucky enough to partner with the Watervliet Arsenal and their summer camp was coming here. So on any given Thursday, we had about 50 to 70 kids coming through our door,” Gitman said.
Gitman says the funding will be used to build a quiet room.
“We’re going to take a little bit of space from the reading room, a little bit of space from the children’s room, and I believe the plan is to put in these beautiful glass walls, doors on either side, and even maybe one into the library, so there’s plenty of exits people can come in and out and have a nice little modern space. I think the plan is to be, at least, like, 10, 15 people capacity,” Gitman said.
Gitman says the timeline is uncertain and agrees with Grant: libraries are undervalued.
“People walk in all the time, and they’re like, ‘wow, this is so much different than what I remember as a kid.’ First, they’re stunned by the fact that we don’t have card catalogs anymore, then they’re just excited that we provide so many different services,” Gitman said.
