In late April, the Friends of the Millis Public Library dedicated a new shed that was built for the Millis Public Library by Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School students. The project began in October and lasted through the end of March.
“They were a great group of kids,” says Alex Lent, Director of the Millis Public Library. “They were incredibly polite. The result is beautiful. It’s a great shed; it really looks terrific, nice and weatherproof, and it fits in with the aesthetic of the whole plaza. Also, it was great to work with the school. We collaborate with Millis High School on our late-night study programs and things like that, but happens less frequently, collaborating with Tri-County, so that was cool.”
Lent says the new shed offers storage space the Friends’ group had lost during the move to the new library.
“In the old building, we had a stand-alone shed that stored books for book sale,” says Alex Lent, Millis Library Director, who says that was before his time. “The Friends have always wanted some additional space for their three book sales, one in fall, one in the spring and then a little one on the last day of school, the Fun Fair. They sell books online, too, working through a reseller that has 50 marketplaces online.”
“Years ago, we had the shed at the old library built by Tri-County,” says Friends member Diane Jurmain. “It was very well built (and dry) but could not be moved to the new site. I got approval for the site (in the parking lot) and got some help from the DPW (Jim McKay) to clear the site and level it off, got a price from Tri-County, based on our design, and we got started.”
The Friends worked with Tri-County carpentry teacher Jeremy Barstow, who brought different groups of Seniors and Juniors to the site as a hands-on learning experience.
“He told me that he often let them make mistakes, then take things apart and do it correctly because that’s the way they learned,” says Jurmain. “They’d bring their lunches and work for several hours a day. One of the Juniors turned out to be the Grandson of one of the Friends!
“Tri-County was very easy to work with, and they were willing to do interior storage shelving for us as well. The arrangement is that we paid for materials, through a lumber-supply house, and then we pay Tri-County a small fee for the project. We are thrilled to have the space and look forward to a much easier process of storing books for our book sales,” says Jurmain.
In short, says Lent, “The Friends’ needs are our needs. We couldn’t do the events we are able to offer, 710 programs (a year), and a lot of those were possible only because of the friends.” In fact, Lent says this past year has been the biggest, in terms of programs offered.
Issue Date:
July, 2017
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