Auburndale Library to re-open June 13
By Ben Terris
Town Correspondent
Last summer Newton decided to close down the Auburndale library branch due to a lack of funding. Now, a year later, residents of the village are poised to reopen the building as an independent library financed by donations and run by volunteers.
“This branch of the library has been such an important resource to the community,” said Elizabeth Miller one of the co-presidents of the new non-profit Auburndale Community Library Inc. “It was such a shame for all the people who used the site when it was closed, and now so exciting to be on the verge of opening it up again.”
Even though the new library will open in the same space as the old, and use the same collection of books, it will not be affiliated with the Newton Free Library or part of the Minuteman network of libraries. Instead, the non-profit will pay $563 a month to cover the use of the building and book collection as well as utilities. For the foreseeable future, unpaid volunteers will run the library.
Other expenses so far have gone to buying a new computer, stickers to put in books, library cards, and of course, cleaning supplies.
“In some ways we were fortunate that everything in the library was left exactly how it was on the last day of operation,” Miller said. “It meant that a lot of books were on the shelves and everything, but since it’s hardly been touched that meant we had to clean up a lot of dust, old toys, and do a lot of reorganizing.”
Although a lot of work has gone into reopening the building-- which was built in 1929 and is on the register of historic places-- Miller said that the experience has been a great one for the community.
“It’s remarkable how many people in the neighborhood have come out to help out in whatever way they could,” she said. “With young parents, seniors, and teenagers volunteering it’s been inspirational and intergenerational…. People from all parts of the community have put both money and sweat into opening something that is more than just a house of books. It’s a place where people can meet up, run activities, work, and of course also read.”
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