GLOCESTER – Local and state officials celebrated the collaboration that helped to bring renovations and a new community room to Harmony Library this week at a ground-breaking ceremony for the new space.
Funded with more than $1 million in Community Learning Center Municipal Grants from the Pandemic Recovery Office, the new 30-foot by 30-foot room will provide space for education and cultural events, according to officials.
“It will provide a comfortable setting for new programs,” Library Director Gayle Wolstenholme. “This really is a special day.”
Architects from LLB have designed the addition, with Mill City Construction hired to build the new room, funded through the state’s Learn365RI initiative. Part of the library’s goal with the new space, Wolstenholme explained, will be to provide programming that helps to get children kindergarten ready.
“I do know that it’s going to work,” said Gov. Dan McKee at the ceremony on Wednesday, Dec. 10. “Parents are going to gravitate to this facility.
McKee noted the project is one of 21 statewide funded with the grants through funding allocated from the federal government.
“In every home, every day, learning matters,” McKee said. “I am so looking forward to creating these facilities. It doesn’t become a reality without partners on the local level.”
Aiding Glocester’s library expansion effort was the town of Foster, which was unable to use its CLC funding, and instead contributed its grant to the neighboring town’s project. In exchange, Foster residents can use Glocester facilities, and participate in any programming at either Harmony or Glocester Manton Library.
The combined funding also allowed for renovations at Manton, Wolstenholme explained, including installation of a new French drain.
“We reached out to Glocester rather than declining the grant,” said Foster Town Council President Steven Plouffe.
The funds will also renovate the library’s storytime space – to be divided into one tele-medicine room and two computer labs – to create dedicated areas for education, employment, and telehealth.
“The true value of the space isn’t measured in square feet, it’s measured in possibilities,” said Glocester Town Council President William Worthy. “Residents of Foster and Glocester, this space is for you.”
