Utica Public Library plans exterior improvements

UTICA — After investing almost $1 million into the interior of the building, the Utica Public Library is now turning its sights toward sprucing up the outside of the building that opened in 1904.

The library will use a combination of $101,900 in state Downtown Revitalization Initiative funding, plus a $22,300 Community Development Block Grant to spruce up the front of the library, which faces Genesee Street.

“We’re replacing a semi-arch walkway that leads to the front of the building,” says Chris Sagaas, library director. Several bluestone pillars will also receive some work. “We anticipate this will happen in late summer or fall,” he adds.

The Utica Public Library, along with Munson and the Thea Bowman House, serves as a quality-of-life anchor along Utica’s Genesee Street, Sagaas says, and the goal for the area is to improve quality of life, make it more walkable, and improve traffic conditions for safety.

“This is one step in what we hope to be a continuing revitalization and reinvestment in the area,” he says of all the work the library has planned.

Beyond fixing up the walkway and pillars, the library is also preparing to oversee the community garden space it offers on its one-plus-acre campus

“We expect we’ll be jumping further into that as August approaches,” Sagaas says of the garden space. The library is working to coordinate various volunteers from colleges or community organizations to help “remodel” the space with new garden beds.

In September, the Utica Public Library will keep to a garden theme as it hosts the District V of the Federated Garden Clubs of New York State annual flower show. This is the third time hosting for the library, and it’s just one of many events and activities the library offers throughout the year.

Today’s library is about so much more than checking out a book to read, Sagaas notes. The library serves as an important resource for many, especially those who don’t have reliable access to the internet at home due to financial constraints or lack of availability.

For those who do have technology available, the library is continually growing its collection of e-content, he adds. “Fifty percent of our materials budget goes to e-content now,” Sagaas says. That includes access to things like the New York Times, a comics database, and even Wi-Fi expanders to boost the internet range into the surrounding neighborhood.

The Utica Public Library is also working more closely with organizations like the Greater Utica Chamber of Commerce, Sagaas says. The library’s goal is to work with local vendors whenever it can, especially since there is state construction funding for libraries to use with local contractors and businesses. That makes libraries drivers of the local economy, he adds.

“We support local as much as possible,” Sagaas says. As part of its interior upgrades, the library purchased two desks from Utica company Hale Manufacturing for a cost of about $40,000.

The Utica Public Library is working with Utica costume and puppet company, Geppetto Studios, Inc., along with the Players of Utica’s local actors and storytellers, to host Professor Lalli’s Library of Curiosities. The library received $5,000 in funding from CNY Art’s community regrants program for the event.

The walk-through scary experience, geared toward adults, is just another way the library adds to the area’s entertainment and quality of life, Sagaas says.

“More people are coming back to use us,” he says, so it’s important the library offers something for everybody.