We have so many other needs in Hingham: a new school to replace aging Foster School, at least one new fire station to replace 75-year-old buildings, a cramped Town Hall and even more cramped Senior Ce

The Trustees are not saying that the Library is more important than the other needs.  We know that the townspeople, in their judgment, will make the decisions on what projects they need and want, in what order, and at what price. We strongly believe, however, that a fine Library is part of the suite of services a community such as ours needs and deserves in this busy and complicated society.

The Library is the true community center. Apart from public health and safety services, and highways, the public Library is the town resource used by more people, more kinds of people, than any other. Not everybody uses the schools, or the bathing beach, or the harbor, or Bare Cove Park, or the sports fields, or the Country Club pool or golf course, or the Senior Center. But everybody, both genders and all social classes, from the tiniest children to the eldest seniors and all those in between, uses the Library. It is beloved as few Town institutions are, by many thousands of people who use it every year, and the hundreds who volunteer there freely.  It is also an important partner to other town services, especially the Senior Center and the schools.    For example, for seniors it hosts classes in lifelong learning.   For students, it is an essential study facility (which is why, in the spring, we stay open late during High School finals week).     

As Trustees with a responsibility in state law, we see it as our duty to bring forward this opportunity to give the best in Library services to the town, with the assistance and support of the Board of Library Commissioners. The state is offering this grant to the people, not to the Trustees, and we know that only the people can decide whether they can or want to accept it. We hope that they will.

Show All Answers

1. Why are you doing this right now? Why the time pressure?
2. Didn’t we just remodel the Library a few years ago? Why do we need to do it again?
3. Why can’t we just move the Children’s Department to the front of the building?
4. I’m shocked at the total cost -- $26.2 million seems huge. Why is it so much?
5. How would that affect my property tax bill?
6. I heard that the state would have given a 75 percent grant to a joint Library project submitted by two towns. Is that true? If so, why didn’t the Trustees submit a joint application for a regional Hin
7. At Town Meeting 2017, the Library warrant article said there would be other renovation plans besides this one, for the town to consider. Do those plans exist?
8. Couldn’t you have just waited until the next round of state funding?
9. If Town Meeting does not approve the funding, can’t we apply again next time?
10. In the last renovation, I remember the Library moved to the old East School while the work went on. That building is gone now. Where would the Library move temporarily this time?
11. If we approve this at Town Meeting 2019, how long would it be before the renovated Library opens?
12. Why can’t we see a model, or more detailed outside or inside color drawings?
13. We have so many other needs in Hingham: a new school to replace aging Foster School, at least one new fire station to replace 75-year-old buildings, a cramped Town Hall and even more cramped Senior Ce