Within a few years, the library board had greatly increased the square footage available for books and smartened up the whole facility, yet, paradoxically, the library now seemed cramped. Long time volunteer and professional cataloguer, Lee Astin, was trying to repair books in an alcove at the top of the back stairs. Sonja was trying to unpack and sort books on the fiction room table. Volunteers were sick of hauling boxes of sale books up and down from the store room.
But there was a space available, and board chair Regina DeCesare spotted it. True, the old woodshed affixed to the rear of the building was in poor shape and inhabited by a vixen that had her den under the floorboards, but Fletcher board members had learned not to be fussy. Could the woodshed be salvaged? When an assessment by builder Paul Wakely was negative, the board, undeterred, decided to use the handsome bequest from Warren Stone to help rebuild the former outbuilding from scratch.
The result was a modern workroom, complete with a heat pump and shelving sufficient to hold a sales worth of donated and weeded books, plus a storage cupboard, computer station, sink and work counter. Weary volunteers gave a sigh of relief at the end of precarious trips up and down the narrow and winding back stairs.
The new workroom was the big change in the physical plant in the 2010’s. During this period the library also faced a big and expensive decision about book handling when it considered digitizing the collection. This was not to be undertaken lightly. Digitization requires the transfer of card catalogue information, either by typing or scanning, to a company that produces unique barcodes for every title. The bar codes are printed on peel off paper, and once received, every single book in the collection has to be taken off the shelf and given its proper label.
Board member Melanie Johnson, who had considerable computer expertise, argued that the change was inevitable and better done sooner than later. She was instrumental in getting the project approved as well as in organizing the library’s share of the work, which involved numerous volunteers, library staff, and local students. The library successfully funded the project with the assistance of a grant from the Savings Institute of Willimantic. Also on the computer front, The Hampton and Scotland School Readiness Council donated a children’s computer learning station for the Children’s Room, one of a number of donations over the years to promote early childhood learning.
Another digital addition around this time was the library’s website. Built by the library’s then corresponding secretary, Janice Trecker, the website gave Fletcher a web presence and enabled patrons to search the catalogue on line and to check on library events and new book arrivals. The acquisition of a FaceBook account at the same time lets the library post photos of events and links to information of topical interest.
With digitization, a web presence and good computer access, Fletcher Memorial Library entered the modern era and began a rapid expansion of programs and services. Handicapped access was improved as part of a big project, again funded in part by the Warren Stone bequest, to provide good parking for the library.
Besides private donations, the project also received help from the town and from the Congregational Church which uses the parking area on Sundays. There is now a ramp from the lot at the rear entrance, making the entire lower floor accessible. Unfortunately, the Victorian structure has neither the space nor the strength to handle an elevator but the staff cheerfully brings requested materials from the upper floors for patrons with disabilities.
The parking lot, a rather prosaic necessity, did provide the occasion for perhaps the most romantic touch of the library, a certified butterfly garden. Board member Anne Christie, a landscape designer and gardener, was well aware of the threats to our pollinators. She proposed a small garden with many butterfly and bee friendly plants that would be an attractive amenity for the town and a demonstration garden for pollinator friendly planting.
Although there were some raised eyebrows at the thought of diverting book money to mulch, the charm of the idea prevailed. A fund raiser offered patrons the opportunity to purchase trees and shrubs for the grounds to memorialize loved ones, and a garden to Anne’s design was installed with yeoman work from Mike Chapel. Wrapping around the earlier Eunice Fuller Memorial Garden, the new installation is a lovely site for concerts and events.
The library also devised new programs. When Deb Andstrom arrived as librarian, she brought not just library expertise but a wealth of experience dealing with young children. The result was the popular Baby Story Time for infants up to 3 or 4 years and the Wednesday Story and Craft program for older children. She also instituted the popular Dr. Seuss’s Birthday party and the annual Easter Egg Hunt, as well as starting a book club for adult readers.
Two other programs also debuted around this time. The Top Shelf Gallery made a virtue of necessity and located an exhibition space along the tops of the bookshelves in the two main adult fiction rooms. Since its inception in 2017, the gallery has shown 27 different artists, both amateurs and professionals, with works in acrylic, oil, watercolor, color pencil, printmaking and photography that greatly brighten up the shelving and complement the library’s permanent collection of local artwork. John O’Brien has now ably succeeded Anne, the original director.
With the support of an anonymous donor and the Foster Family Foundation, recent summers have seen Music at the Fletch. Mark Davis, professional instrumentalist, teacher, and conductor, has secured a line up of talented singers, instrumentalists, and bands each summer for free concerts in the garden or, increasingly with larger groups, on the porch.
When much else was shut down, Fletcher Memorial held at least one concert on the lawn with circles sprayed on the grass to indicate safe social distancing. Mark Davis performed nearly weekly in the butterfly garden during the restrictions of summer 2021, sharing guitar transcriptions of Bach’s unaccompanied violin pieces as well as music from the classical guitar repertory.
The music and art programs, along with increased attention to children’s services, were part of the library’s drive to become a true community center. Anne, then board chair, proposed a function room that would be large enough for talks, meetings, art demonstrations, and acoustic concerts as the final piece of the puzzle.
After some discussions about feasibility, cost, and location, she drew up a design that preserved the look of the old sunroom but enlarged it enough to serve as a real community room. The generosity of Hampton citizens, topped up by a handsome gift from the Joan Dupuis Memorial Fund for Children, raised the needed amount. The same Dupuis Fund kindly provided for the water feature in the garden, a trickling waterfall and pond that attracts frogs in the summer.
In 2019, Michael Barr Construction enlarged the old sunroom to create a space closely resembling its predecessor but equipped with modern lighting, heating, and windows. Bright and sunny in winter, well shaded by trees in summer, it is a charming space, only unfortunate in that its completion occurred so close to the pandemic shutdown. With the library’s reopening it is again busy with performances, programs, the weekly Mah Jongg games, children’s events, meetings, and concerts, but for many months it stood empty after Covid hit.
The pandemic had a major impact on every institution and Fletcher was no exception. The board, then led by Bonnie Cardwell, was considering mundane concerns like a new furnace, basement work, and a functional fire alarm system, all later secured, when they had to make the extraordinary decision to close the library.
All indoor programing was cancelled and a fine exhibition of color pencil drawings by Lula Mae Blocton went largely unseen. But the library continued the most basic task, lending and acquiring books, although Brodart, the main library book supplier was temporarily shut down and deliveries were slow. Patrons called or emailed requests to Deb and the staff, who placed the items in the pickup box at the back door. Returns were via the new drop boxes, hardly an ideal situation but functional.
Four years later, Fletcher Memorial Library is again fully open for business and ready to celebrate its one hundredth birthday in fine shape. The building is sound, the computers and internet connections are fast, and the collection maintains a nice balance between the popular books of the moment and work of lasting value, and includes two interesting special collections: the History Room and the Jamie H. Trecker Comics collection. The library attracts between 350 and 450 patrons a month. It is a careful steward of its endowment and the recipient of town support both official and private.
But one thing has not changed from the day the Center School kids were enlisted to transfer the books: a very great deal of the library’s success has depended on its volunteers. Many people have contributed skill and experience, time and energy to the library, believing, as one volunteer says that “the library is for everyone” and that, even in difficult or divisive times, the institution can be a unifying focus of the community.
Janice Trecker