Responding to an invitation from the Trustees of Tiverton Library Services, nearly 60 town residents met at the Sakonnet Bay Manor on September 27 to play an active role in telling friends and neighbors what the new library will do for the Town of Tiverton.It was an evening filled with enthusiasm, a spirit of volunteerism, and a commitment to transform Tiverton Library Services into a vital Town resource.

"Why are we here?" Barbara Donnelly, Chair of the Board of Trustees, asked as she convened the meeting. "We're here to take the final step of a long 10 year process to bring our town's library services into the 21st century."

The Third Place. Library Director Ann Grealish-Rust sparked the evening's enthusiasm by envisioning a day in the life of the new library in her presentation, titled "It's not just a building."

"Our core mission is information, literacy and public education but today's libraries are also a town square where people of all ages and backgrounds connect with each other, seek help and get the services and information they need," Ann said. "What we are going to create is the library as the "third place" in peoples' lives - the first is home; the second is work."

A Day in the Life. Ann described her vision of a typical day at the new Tiverton Library. The Children's Center, she said, would be a bustle of activity: 18 four year olds engrossed in a story-telling circle; parents with younger children getting to know each other in the colorful, baby-safe space; other parents are being tutored in the small study room, so they can be more comfortable reading to their children; and a small group of parents and kids outside in the garden, learning about plants and gardening tips.

Businesses thrive. Kids go electronic. In library meeting rooms, Ann envisioned small groups of local business owners enjoying lunch, while learning about new grant opportunities for businesses in coastal regions from a speaker from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation. In the teen center, a librarian helps a group of middle school students to express themselves using new A/V equipment, while another group is creating computer games using programs like ALICE and SCRATCH, "which use high level mathematics functions - without the kids realizing it," Ann added.

A link to the world. "In our new a global video conferencing center, guided by an environmental scientist, a group of very bright fourth graders are working on a project with their peers in Japan, to generate ideas and solutions to the problems of declining seafood populations and pollution in coastline communities.

"This is just a small sampling of services and programs we can offer if we have a facility designed to meet the town's needs," Ann concluded. "Ours will be a small town library as it should be - where much of the space dedicated to people rather than books. Featuring study rooms, a teen room, comfortable seating, a children's library, continuing education classrooms, community meeting rooms, a digital archive of Tiverton's history, the modern small town library is so much more than a book warehouse."

As part of the meeting at Sakonnet Bay Manor, volunteers broke up into precinct groups to organize outreach efforts in their own neighborhoods.  Here's a portrait of who may be knocking on your door to talk about the how you and Tiverton will benefit from the new Town library. (Note: Precinct 3 volunteers are is still being organized.)

Want to help build our new library? Email newlibrary@tivertonlibrary.org