Waltham Public Library receives grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners

By JILLIAN BROSOFSKY
Waltham Times Contributing Writer

Waltham Public Library received a $100,000 grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) through its Public Libraries Construction Program. 

Waltham will use the grant to plan and design renovations to the current Main Street library building.

This grant, one of 13 to be issued across the state, comes after a round of “competitive construction grant” applications, said MBLC communications director Celeste Bruno.

The grant also supplements $150,000 that the Waltham Public Library received from the Library State Aid Account last April.

Kelly Linehan, director of the Waltham Public Library, said library staff will spend most of 2025 working with an architect on designs for the renovated building. 

The Waltham community will then have the opportunity to review the design and provide feedback, she added.

This grant is a step toward creating “a comprehensive library design that aligns with community priorities, modern library standards, and sustainable building practices,” according to a press release.

The current Waltham Public Library was built in 1915 and was not designed to support modern-day technology infrastructure. It was last renovated in the early 1990s, just before the internet boom. 

“There are parts of the building where we can’t even put new wiring in,” Linehan said about the current limitations of the physical space.

There have also been recent issues with the HVAC and air conditioning systems, requiring additional financial support from the City of Waltham.

A renovation years in the making

When Linehan began working at the Waltham Public Library just over 10 years ago, she received a set of notes from her predecessor. They detailed a meeting with a space planning consultant hired to take a look at the building and think about how to plan for the future.

That was only the beginning.

Throughout Linehan’s tenure at the helm of this bustling community resource, she has led multiple strategic sessions to hear feedback from patrons and learn about what they’d like to see at the library.

She ramped up her efforts on gathering community input when the library’s board of trustees announced its intention to apply to the MBLC grant in its 2023 impact report.

Before submitting the application in spring 2024, Linehan and her staff at the library gathered as much feedback as they could. They ran focus groups to better understand what people wanted to see from the library. They developed tours to share the history of the library and point out the building’s flaws.

They also went to the youngest among their patrons. Children 12 and under were invited to attend a session in the Makerspace, an activity room in the library with a 3D printer, laser cutter and craft station, where they could draw their dream library or build it out of Legos. Linehen was impressed by the thoughtfulness of so many youngsters — including one little girl who started the project at home with her own Legos.

Linehan went through their designs with them and included a few in the application to the MBLC. One commonality emerged across many of the designs: There should be a slide in the library.

Throughout the application process, Linehan said library patrons voiced support and offered to help. She said she was touched to know that Waltham is “a community that really understands and values and is willing to invest in its library.”

“A moment of pride”

Linehan said the grant will allow the library to carry its long-standing presence in Waltham confidently into the future. Being able to update the building, with a focus on resilience, helps ensure that it will be able to serve many future generations of Waltham residents.

“It’s really a moment of pride to be in this opportunity to see this next iteration of the library move forward in this way,” she said. “We’re sort of caretakers of the library. We want to make sure we leave it in a good place, in good hands.”