Photo credit: GraftonLibraryCampaign.org

GRAFTON, Mass. -  In an effort to bring more information to Grafton residents, the Public Library Board of Trustees has launched a website to support their push to expand the the library, quadrupling its size to 28,000 square feet.


GraftonLibraryCampaign.org was established as a way to not only inform the public on the plan for the library's renovation and expanson, but also to garner support for the cause as the Oct. 17 Town Meeting in which voters will decide whether to accept a $5 million grant from the Massachusets Board of Library Commissioners and follow through with the $11 million renovation project. The rest of the money for the project would come from the town as well as fundraising and donations.


""We're hoping in the month leading up to the Town Meeting, people will the events and want to get more involved and learn more about the plans for the library," Grafton Library Trustee chairman Judy Meichelbeck said.


The website is the center of a marketing campaign that will include support from local businesses as well as private residents.


Ads in local publications as well as banners, lawn signs, buttons, decals and bumper stickers will be distributed with the website's address on all of them.


"Library supporters are discussing the plan with their friends, neighbors and at community meetings and association meetings. It's a real grass roots effort with many volunteers helping to get the story out about the project to renovate and expand the library," library trustee Dana Wilson said.


Inside the library, displays demonstrate how the new library will look, as well as what features it will offer, such as large meeting rooms that will allow the library to host activities without shutting down a part of the library. Currently, when the library holds an event for children, the children's section, a small part of the basement, is shut down in order to provide space for their special guest.


The trustees also want to clear up any misinformation that may be spreading about the library.


"A lot of people think the library expansion has already been approved, which it hasn't," Meichelbeck said. Not only does the grant need to be accepted at a Town Meeting vote in October, a separate vote needs to take place in December to a approve the bond for the rest of the funding.


If the grant is accepted, the website will also be a tool for fundraising and online donations, once fundraising can begin.


Reaching out to the town, residents and businesses is a priority for the trustees.


Several businesses have already joined the library's Community Partnership intiative, including Washington Mills, Wyman-Gordon, Pepperoni Express, Citizen's Bank, Guys and Gals Hair Salon, and Perreault Landscaping.


"We want to give tours of the library and not just to show how crowded it is," Meichelbeck said. "We've stretched this space as much as we can. There are things we would like to do that we simply can't, because we don't have the space. We want to show people what we would add to what we already have."