ONE LOCAL TURNAROUND
The Bridgewater Public Library became a reference center
library in the state’s regional library system in the 1980s, and
subsequently the town expanded the library building with
assistance from the Massachusetts Public Library Construction
Program in 1995. By 2004, however, library funding began to
slip. After receiving a 38.8 percent disproportionate budget cut
in 2008, Bridgewater could no longer be certified in the State
Aid to Public Libraries program. Because of the collaborative
way libraries work together, it was a blow felt not only by
Bridgewater residents but by the entire library community.
According to Sean Daley, who was brought on as the library
director in May 2010 to turn things around, the circumstances
were dire. With the library budget at about 25 percent of what it
had been, and hours reduced to just fifteen per week, there was
a lot of rebuilding to do. “Patrons felt rejected by other libraries,”
Daley says. “They were confused, bitter, and saw this as a
punishment.” Daley’s job was to educate the public and town
officials about the benefits of the state aid program.
Just one month after Daley became director, the town faced a
big decision: see the police and fire departments cut in half and
the library closed and other services eliminated, or pass the
town’s first Proposition 21
/2 override. The town supported the
override, and the library gained $200,000 in its budget. The
recovery was under way.
Troy Clarkson, currently the town manager in Hanover, was
Bridgewater’s town manager in 2010, when the override passed.
“The library is the heart of the community,” says Clarkson.
“I couldn’t see a real revival in Bridgewater without the
public library.”
When Daley came to Bridgewater, he sat down with the
library trustees to talk with them about regaining certification in
the state aid program. “Our highest priorities were access to
resource sharing and the recognition conferred by certification
that the town values its library,” he says. At the library, he adds,
“I made sure that we did things as effectively as possible by
following best practices, reassigning limited staff, and getting
the highest level of service from a very limited budget.”
With these changes in place, the library has continued to gain
town support.
Now with funding improved and service maximized within
that budget, the library is poised to regain certification in the
state aid program. This will assure residents access to borrowing
and interlibrary loans from neighboring libraries. “The biggest
response from library users,” Daley says, “is to the improved
hours, which now stand at forty-eight per week, and to improved
adult and children’s programming.”
While the Bridgewater Public Library is not yet what it once
was, it is on its way back.
