NEWS RELEASE

On June 23, 2017 Stoughton residents and local and state officials came together to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Stoughton Public Library renovation and expansion. The $14.5 million project is funded in part through a $6.7 million grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners’ (MBLC) Public Library Construction Program (MPLCP). “Today we make a new commitment to the citizens of Stoughton,” said MBLC Commissioner George Comeau. “Your new building embodies the spirit of your community and you have chosen to believe in the bedrock principles of liberty. You’ve made an investment in the future of your children and you’re fulfilling a promise to the community,  that of creating a great new public library.”

State Senator Walter Timilty also congratulated the community, “Libraries make great communities even better,” he said. He also recognized the outstanding work of Stoughton Library Director Pat Basler and her staff.

The project will renovate the existing 1969 building and construct an addition that will help the library meet the needs of residents. The new library will feature a children’s room and adjacent craft/story room that will be used primarily for children’s programming.  The new young adult room will provide space for young adults’ information needs as well as their need to socialize. The Information Technology Center is designed as a centralized space for public computers, printers and other IT equipment. In addition, the new library will be fully accessible to all, meeting Americans with Disabilities Act mandates.

The library will also be home to a Multicultural Learning Center featuring materials in foreign languages and space for ESL students to meet with their tutors. At the groundbreaking, Nery Jimenz, shared how the library has impacted her family. “When I came from Venezuela six years ago I didn’t understand anything.  I didn’t help my grandson with his homework. I didn’t work in my profession—I used to be a professor,” she said. Then she came to the library. “Stoughton Public Library’s Adult Literacy promotes our education and integration in this town. They bring us the tools to learn English so that we have the possibility to be better parents, better grandparents, better neighbors, better workers and better citizens to this wonderful country.”

Funding for the MPLCP is authorized by the governor and state legislature. The MPLCP was first funded by a state bond authorization in 1987. Since then, it has helped hundreds of communities build, renovate and/or expand their public libraries. The MPLCP also awards planning and design grants to support public libraries as they prepare to apply for a construction grant. MPLCP projects are currently underway in Hopkinton, Sherborn, Webster, and Woburn. Communities with recently completed projects include Reading, Shrewsbury, and Scituate.