The Carpenter-Carse Library originally housed a hardware store filled with equipment and tools used for construction and repair. Today, instead of nuts and bolts, the one-story building offers Hinesburg residents knowledge and books, as well as community events and other items to borrow.
The way locals use the library has changed over the years — and new development slated for Hinesburg will likely change their relationship even more. Housing construction nearby will not only bring more potential reading patrons but also include sidewalks that make it easier for those around town to reach the books and other library materials.
The library sits behind a Jiffy Mart on Shelburne Falls Road.
“Part of the development that’s coming in is going to connect us to downtown in a more obvious way,” Beth Royer, Carpenter-Carse Library director, said.
That has prompted the library’s board and staff to embark on a new strategic plan for the library — the first update in seven years. Library staff view the space as a “community living room” and want to make sure the space and amenities fit the expectations of Hinesburg residents. The Carpenter-Carse does more than lend out books; it also hosts children’s story time, adult music jams and a chess club.
Susan McClure, a member of the Carpenter-Carse board and strategic planning subcommittee, said community involvement is key to the process.
“I think we want to really set a course for the next several years that keeps the library sustainable, on really good financial footing and also on really good programmatic footing,” McClure said. The library and board sought to make sure locals “know it’s their library and that they have input in what the future is.”
To that end, the library’s board conducted a community survey over two weeks earlier this year through posts on social media and its monthly newsletter. It garnered 122 responses, or 8 percent of the library’s contact list.
Survey respondents described the library as a valuable community hub with a warm environment and helpful, friendly staff. Many said they’d like to see extended hours — including on Sunday, when the library is currently closed — more children’s programming and a larger book collection. Those who completed the survey also raised concerns about library funding if Hinesburg’s growing population places more demands on its services.
One way the library hopes to address the potential demand on its staff is with better pay, Royer said. Currently, the library has two librarians, including Royer, and six other employees. The library ran a survey and analysis to compare its librarians’ salaries with others in Chittenden County and found that they fell behind the average, Royer said.
Carpenter-Carse has worked to increase staff pay with recent raises averaging 8.7 percent, factoring in inflation, she said.
The upcoming library budget will take further steps to narrow that gap, with the goal of having every staff member earning at least the Chittenden County average of the libraries that responded to the survey, Royer said.
“It’s important to pay the people that make the organization special,” she added.
Libraries typically create a strategic plan every five years to detail how they’ll improve and expand their resource collection, programs and infrastructure in alignment with their mission. Carpenter-Carse’s last strategic plan went into effect in 2016. The library board planned to re- evaluate the plan after Royer became Carpenter-Carse’s director in September 2019 but halted that process during the pandemic.
To guide the process, the library board hired Melissa Levy, a Hinesburg resident and owner of the Community Roots consulting firm that specializes in rural economic and community development.
“Everything that goes into the plan is going to come from them,” Levy said. “I’m just helping facilitate the process and make sense of it.”
Levy recently met with library staff so they could “share their thoughts about what the library is doing well, what the library could be doing better, (and) how to prepare for the future,” she said. She will use that information, as well as the survey responses, to develop goals for the next three to five years and a “roadmap” to outline steps and measure progress, she said.
Among the potential updates in the new strategic plan, Royer said she envisions improving the library’s outdoor space, which has had more use since the pandemic. The area needs additional seating and a more “welcoming” atmosphere, Royer said.
The library could also increase accessibility by installing automatic door openers for both the main entrance and the bathroom, Royer said.
Youth programs such as Lego club and weekly storytime tend to draw crowds, but events and activities for adults could use a jolt of energy now that COVID-19 social isolation is receding, Royer said.
“We’re still trying to find legs for adult programming,” Royer said. “It’s hard to know if people will come out for things, so we haven’t done quite as many speaker programs.”
McClure often brings her 5-year-old to Carpenter-Carse, she said. She values the library as a public space, particularly for kids. “Where I grew up, coming to the library was one of the first civic participation things you do as a little kid. You’re in a public space where you’re interacting with other people in your community.”
Carpenter-Carse also offers a Library of Things — bicycles, a telescope, a sewing machine, puzzles, an animal-tracking kit, a blood pressure monitor, gardening equipment — to lend to those with a library card. The library plans to expand those options through a partnership with Burlington- based bike lenders Local Motion this summer.
More and more library users are opting for digital resources, and that poses some challenges, Royer explained. Carpenter-Carse is part of a consortium with other libraries in the state, all which share digital inventory. The wait list for popular titles can grow long, prompting patrons to ask the library to procure more digital copies — which are typically more expensive than a printed book.
Physical copies can last for decades, but a digital copy gives the library access for a limited time, often just a year, Royer said. Getting a sense of how important digital copies are to patrons will help the library decide how to allocate its budget toward different versions of books.
“I just want the library to continue to be as welcoming and wonderful as it is,” said Royer.
Read the original story in The Citizen
