Moving Down the Line

On October 4, 2012, the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) announced they have awarded an additional 8 public libraries their share of construction funds from the original list of 27 libraries in the line-up. This is the second round of grants awarded since July 2011. The Sherborn Library is now number 10 on the waiting list. During the next nine months, this new group of 8 municipal libraries, made up of Reading, Belmont, Edgartown, Salisbury, Framingham McAuliffe Branch, Scituate, Shrewsbury, and Acushnet will work with their communities to gain the local matching funds necessary to move forward with their grants. Webster, Sandwich, Woburn, Eastham, Hopkinton, East Boston, Somerville, Stoughton, Hatfield, Sherborn, and Leicester remain on the waiting list. The communities of Athol, Everett, Granby, South Hadley, West Springfield, and West Tisbury were awarded their local funding match and are now either out to bid or in construction. Officials estimate that Sherborn may receive notification of their funding around the Fall 2014. As the MBLC moves down the list, the Sherborn Library has been working to help make the funding match. The Campaign Steering Committee, made up of members of the Board of Library Trustees, Friends of the Library, and talented citizen volunteers have been working in a quiet phase of fund-raising to build a share of the local match with private donations.