Printer Friendly Version - Madison Library Campaign Receives Anonymous $500,000 Donation

This 2013 architectural representation of the Scranton Library expansion proposal shows a relocated former post office building. It has been moved forward to Wall Street and in line with the Hull Building next door. The relocation allows for parking behind the library. The present concept would link the library and the Hull Building with new construction, effectively doubling the space now available for library use. Image courtesy of the Scranton Memorial Library

As the library continues to work toward a possible fall referendum on a multi-million dollar renovation of E.C. Scranton Memorial Library, fundraising for the project got a major boost last week after the library received an anonymous $500,000 donation.

The donation comes after a $1 million construction grant for the project from the Connecticut State Library Board was awarded in November 2015 ,according to Library Board of Trustees Vice President Henry Griggs.

Griggs said he and the board are pleased with the donations, which will be added to $800,000 funds the Trustees currently hold, but they come with a catch.

“The approval of a $1 million bond that the state issues and the $500,000 donation are contingent upon passage of the referendum,” he said. “It needs to take place for these things to all line up.”

The project to renovate the library has been estimated at $14 million; the library plans to raise $2 million with the majority of the cost, $12 million, coming from town through bonding. While the total project cost hasn’t changed, Board of Trustees President Beth Coyne said thanks to recent donations, the library may ask the town to bond for a smaller number.

“We had said to the town during our CIP [Capital Improvement Plan] meeting that we thought we would need to ask the town for $12 million and we are so pleased that we are able to lower that number ahead of time,” she said. “We believe at this point we only need $10 million, which is our commitment to asking for only what we need and our commitment to raise the funds that we will need.”

To keep raising money, Coyne said they are looking to secure another grant and start fundraising in the community.

“Moving forward we are just excited to have this base and we have some wonderful volunteers who are ready to start talking to people for large gifts, for small gifts, and we are hoping that maybe we could do an event as well,” she said.

The current renovation plan for the library is a scaled-down version of the plan that Madison voters narrowly defeated in a 2008 referendum vote. Current designs for the building would work to preserve the historical architecture while improving the streetscape and expanding the floor plan and parking.

“We would go from 17,000 square feet to about 38,000 square feet and have 45 parking spaces,” said Griggs. “We are making space for a generation to come.”

The current library suffers from space constraints, according to Scranton Memorial Library Director Beth Crowley. She said the library is in need of group and quiet study space, space for meetings, proper shelving and materials access, and space for kids and staff.

“The Connecticut state standard says there should be about 1.5 square feet of library space per capita and we have about 0.9 square feet,” she said. “We feel this in the space limitations that we have in the building.”

For now, the library board hopes to bring the project to referendum in the fall. While it is a large project, Griggs said it is a good investment.

“A library is a public good and a good investment,” he said. “It is sort of like having good schools, especially when the library is integrated with the schools. Somebody said the libraries of the future will be a part of the education ecology of their town and I think that is a nice way of thinking about it.”

To donate or learn more about the campaign, contact Beth Skudder at skudderb@scrantonlibrary.org or visit www.scrantonlibrary.org.