By Anne Semmes
The Commodious and Eye-Catching Interiors of the New Greenwich Library
Entering the new Greenwich Library at last is a treat. Yes, you must make an appointment first and enter with a mask – and social distance, but be in the mood to browse, to let the new displays of books speak to you. You’ll first see the all-in-one welcome and reference desk. “It’s more one-stop shopping,” says Barbara Ormerod-Glynn, Library Director.
“We have two ways that we’re serving patrons right now to get our materials,” she says. “The first way is with no contact pickup, which we’ve been doing since last summer. And now, people can make 20-minute appointments by phone, or online, from 1 to 4 p.m., or different evenings at the Main, Byram Shubert, and Cos Cob Libraries, to browse the new book display section on the first floor or come with children to go up to the children’s room.
“The area that our patrons are able to browse now includes not just the materials that were here before, but we brought the entire DVD collection down here.”
“These are the hottest, most exciting books,” says Kate Petrov, Library Public Relations Officer of the Express Books display, so hot you can only take them out for a week. “We have a resources management team,” Ormerod-Glynn notes, that counts the holds on those bestsellers that drive their Express Books choices.
“What’s really different is over here,” directs Petrov, “There’s a table devoted to cookbooks, and a table devoted to staff picks. We make little notes for each of the staff members who picked the book they feel you would be interested in.” There are Mystery, Romance, and Magazine tables, Non-Fiction and Japanese selections. “The Japanese are very big library users.” says Ormerod-Glynn.
What intrigues is to see audiobooks alongside the print books. “The audiobook collection is in a different place in the library,” Ormerod-Glynn explains.” So, now they have been pulled forward so that people don’t have to walk throughout the building. We want to try and keep people coming in and out within a limited amount of time.”
A tall bookcase is full of DVD’s. “We find that it’s a collection that’s going out in a declining way,” says Ormerod-Glynn. “But nevertheless, we still have some folks who still have their equipment and are still borrowing. So, we’re not ready to abandon DVDs, because we still circulate about 80,000 of them a year, which is no small number.
“We’ll buy TV series, and if somebody missed the series, sometimes what happens on Netflix or Amazon Prime is that they start to charge you for certain seasons. So, this way you can see the different seasons for free.” And there on the shelves is the Outlander series and Prime Suspect, the long-running British series. Ormerod-Glynn adds, “For quite a few years now we’ve been purchasing TV seasons from HBO and other premium channels.” And last but not least is a bookcase full of new music CDs.
We head for the third floor for the expansive new Children’s Department. In the elevator Ormerod-Glynn shares a story of a mom who videotaped her two boys excited return to the Children’s Department, “embracing the librarians and grabbing for books on the shelves because they were so happy to be able to come back into this space.” During the long absence a popular service has been offered to parents: “If a parent wanted a bunch of books on trucks or fairytales, the librarians would bundle up to 10 books for parents to pick up.
We enter a room most spacious. “People come in and think it’s bigger because the shelving units that were in the middle were very tall,” says Ormerod-Glynn. “And now we are using space all along the walls for materials in a way that we didn’t do before. And wait till you see the view from over there.” Two windows look out as far as Long Island Sound. “The workmen referred to this floor as the penthouse because of the view.”
“There are nooks for different age groups now,” she says, “and the chairs can be pulled together.” There are games and interactive toys,” tells Petrov. She shows a book that children can listen to while reading it. “Some people are visual, and some are audio, and so doing both can be really broadening,” says Ormerod-Glynn.
Surely broadening is that in-the-round magical space with the circular constellation-painted-on-blue ceiling lit up with tiny fiber optics that has new lighting giving its perimeters a lovely glow. Story times for attending children will surely be magical.
Back on the first floor, the tour takes us down the new staircase that leads to the café. “We’re encouraging all the folks that come in, on their way out to patronize the café,” says Ormerod-Glynn. There’s a counter with food listings. “We don’t yet have tables assembled for people to eat inside. But we have tables outside in the Baxter Courtyard. And the Abilis folks do such a fine job of providing service.”
Ormerod-Glynn then guides us to the surround sound spaces “Within 100 yards we have a learning lab with 18 seats for computer learning. We have the Black Box on the right for author talks and webinars in person. We have the new auditorium, the Berkley Theater. It used to seat 368, but now seats 299.”
But the critical news she ends with as we face the Baxter Courtyard. “There’s another entrance to the Library. And it’s very handicap accessible. Outside here on the left is a sloped ramp for somebody who might be in a wheelchair, or incapacitated, not walking, and the elevator is right around the corner.”
To make a same day or next day appointment, visit www.greenwichlibrary.org/
