SHUTESBURY - Some 16 years after the idea was proposed, Shutesbury looks set to get a new library.
The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners announced Thursday that Shutesbury will get $2.1 million to build a new library, a sum that would cover 60 percent of the project's $3.5 million pricetag.
Still, hurdles remain. Town Meeting must approve borrowing the remaining $1.4 million in funding for the project. Shutesbury officials said a special Town Meeting would likely take up the subject this fall.
Nonetheless, Thursday's news was celebrated as a major accomplishment by library supporters in a small town that since 1902 has relied on the M.N. Spear Memorial Library - a building barely bigger than a closet and without running water - to provide books to its residents.
"This is a big positive step forward," Mary Anne Antonellis, the Shutesbury library director, said. "We're excited. We're proud of the work we did and the support and dedication the community has given to this project."
She noted that Shutesbury had been awarded the maximum amount a town can receive under the state program.
Since 1995
The idea of building a new library was first broached in 1995, but after six years of study the proposal failed to garner Town Meeting support over concerns about the proposed library's location. Efforts resumed in 2007, this time aided by the town's 2004 purchase of a 22-acre plot of land on Leverett Road across from the Highway Department building. The site was later selected as the home of a new library.
Then at the May 2010 Town Meeting, Shutesbury residents voted 163-20 to allow the town to apply for the state grant it landed this week.
In the run-up to Thursday's announcement, library supporters like Antonellis expressed concern that after all the work they put in, the project would not be backed. A total of 28 towns applied for the library board's General Construction Provisional Grants.
In the end their worries were for naught. Shutesbury was one of eight towns to be selected statewide. In all, $28.5 million was awarded to projects from bond funding passed by the Legislature in 2008.
After the announcement of the award, volunteers who had worked on the grant application gathered Thursday at M.N. Spear to celebrate.
"Shutesbury is an amazing community," said Lori Tuomenin, chairwoman of the Library Facility Needs Assessment Committee and a member of the Finance Committee. "We all pulled together and worked together. It feels good to be a part of this."
Weezie Houle, who sits on the Finance, New Shutesbury Library Capital Needs and Library Needs Assessment committees, estimated she put more than 100 hours of volunteer time toward the project.
"It has been sheer pleasure all the way," said Houle, as she struggled to find words to describe her feelings. "It's an extremely worthy cause."
The New Shutesbury Library Capital Needs Committee aims to raise $400,000 in private funds to help cover the cost of the new library, she said. Fundraising will begin in earnest at a community picnic Wednesday at Lake Wyola State Park starting at 6 p.m.
With its 900 square feet of space, M.N. Spear is among the smaller libraries in the state. Despite its size, it does not lack patrons. In 2010, Antonellis reported that M.N. Spear had the eighth-highest circulation statewide among libraries of its size, but ranked 55th in terms of library holdings.
Looking forward to the special Town Meeting vote this fall, Antonellis said, "We are cautiously optimistic. For me getting to this grant announcement is a dream come true.
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