Renovations completed at Perth Amboy Public Library

Suzanne Russell
@SRussellMyCJ

PERTH AMBOY - More than two years after the Perth Amboy Public Library closed its doors in 2013 for a much-needed $2 million renovation, residents will be welcomed back to the Jefferson Street building Saturday, Oct. 24, to tour the restored 112-year-old structure and sign up for library cards.

The circulation desk in the newly renovated Perth Amboy Public Library, Monday, October 19, 2015.

The 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. soft opening also will include refreshments and face painting for children.

"I'm so happy. It really does look like a state-of-the-art library right now," said Mayor Wilda Diaz, as she entered the bright, open library space Monday morning which maintains many of the building's original historic features.

"It's a library we all can be proud of," said Diaz about the renovation project she pledged to complete since being elected mayor in 2008. "A city with a good library says a lot about a community. This is my proudest project."

Diaz's goal is for every child and every family to have a library card and have an opportunity to use the library.

She pointed out the prominence of the skylight  in the middle of the main floor which previously had been hidden by a suspended ceiling installed to reduce heating costs.

The peeling ceiling and wall paint is gone. So too are the large trash containers used to collect water when it rain. The leaky roof has been replaced. There are new windows and lighting, as well as a light green and yellow interior paint color.

The wood floor in the rear reading room has been restored and there is now a restroom on the main floor. .

"We kept the original as much as we could," said Jim Woller, chairman of the Perth Amboy Library Board of Trustees .

The renovation was funded through the city's capital improvement budget, along with a $400,000 grant from the county for window replacement, and library board funds. The library quietly reopened to the public earlier this month even as additional repairs continue to be made.

A work in progress 

"We're still making repairs. The majority of the work has been done, but it's still a work in progress," said Diaz, noting a stair tower, to provide handicap accessibility, has yet to be completed on the structure which opened in 1903 with funding from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation.

Several murals found on the lower level of the library need to be restored, with the cost for one mural estimated at $10,000.

Proceeds from The Taste of Perth Amboy will benefit the restoration of the library murals. This sampling of foods from about 30 different restaurants and bakeries will start at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22 at the ZPA Cocktail Lounge, 281 Grace St. Tickets are $30 per person and $20 for students with school identification. Limited tickets will be available at the door. Tickets are available at www.TasteofPerthAmboy.eventbrite.com or call 732-442-6421 or 732-826-0290, ext. 4050.

"We want to get the murals ready," Diaz said. "We have place upstairs and downstairs where we want to have the murals displayed."

In the front of library, in a room that formerly housed newspapers and other periodicals, nonfiction books are now displayed, according to Herschel Chomsky, library business manager. The room also houses some computers and a museum display case.

The ceiling and walls have been painted and handmade dental molding along the ceiling has been restored and the large windows have been replaced and new flooring installed. On the other side of the main entrance, the fiction section has been located.

The stairway tower will be built adjacent to the reading room on the first floor.

Besides looking for reading material, Chomsky said many people come into the library to do research.

Woller said with so much use of the Internet, it's the library staff members who are able to assist people with their research.

Renovations, which included new windows, are complete, Monday, October 19, 2015, at the Perth Amboy Public Library.

A place for children 

On the lower level, the Children's Library has been renovated with new tables, chairs, book shelves, lighting, electrical work and ceiling tiles. The walls has been painted a soft blue. The children librarian's desk was restored by city public works employees.

"My goal is to tell the residents the library is open and make sure they have their library card so they feel they are part of it," Diaz said.

Children's librarian Melanie Bolick said the children and parents are so happy the library is open again. She said her department issues library cards to newborn children.

"If they live in Perth Amboy, they can have a card," said Bolick, who has served as the children's librarian for 23 years.

Diaz is looking to place a gazebo in a fenced area adjacent to the outdoor entrance to the children's library to give children a place to read during the summertime.

Newspapers and other artifacts from the archive room, some dating back to the late 1800s and  early 1900s are slated to be displayed on the lower level. Music sheets was found in tin boxes, the library's first typewriter, are among the items found in the archive room that will be relocated to a planned local history room.

On the left, the Perth Amboy Library is pictured shorly after its opening in 1903. On the right, pictured is damage to the library's ceiling prior to the renovation.

A modern library 

Eleni Glykis, who was hired as library director to replace Patricia Gandy, who retired, said she's looking to make the facility more modern, with more teen activity.

"I think everyone has the idea that our library is just books, but libraries are more digital. It's not just a library anymore. I want kids to know they can come here, and their are programs for them to learn Photoshop, skills to be college ready outside of  school, even a place for adults to become more work ready," Glykis said. "You can learn how to speak English, because that's a big thing in Perth Amboy. They can come here to get resources. We have a lot of people who are afraid to go to a government office for whatever reason that might be. But if you come to a library I'm not going to report you to anybody. So if you need help you can always come to the library and we'll point you in the right direction."

Glykis said she recently was contacted by a woman looking for a newspaper that announced her daughter's New Year's Day birth from years ago. She also received a call from someone asking about a blueberry festival in 1979 that singer Pete Seeger attended, and is frequently contacted by other community members doing genealogy research.

"It's more of a community center, not just a place to check out the latest James Patterson book," she said.

Staff Writer Suzanne Russell: 732-565-7335; srussell@mycentraljersey.com 
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