Around Town

New Canaan Library Working Toward Proposed Uses for 1913 Building

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New Canaan Library has started planning for a new use or uses of the 1913 building, a sealed structure on the western edge of the organization’s campus. Preserved and moved 115 feet from its original location as part of a Planning & Zoning Commission requirement as the “new” library building project that wrapped up three years ago, the legacy building has been used — on its exterior — as the site of a “Changemakers” art installation since 2024. (The building’s 115-foot relocation cost about $2.4 million.)

“We have formed some committees,” library CEO Ellen Sullivan Crovatto told members of the Board of Selectmen during a Jan. 20 budget presentation, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. She continued: “We have begun a lot of work around how we see using the space.

Around Town

‘A Beautiful and Welcoming Library for the Entire Community’: New Canaan Library Earns International Recognition

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One of New Canaan’s best-loved and most heavily used institutions is earning global recognition for its excellence. New Canaan Library last week was named a top-3 finalist for “Best New Public Library in the World” by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions or ‘IFLA.’

In introducing New Canaan Library CEO Ellen Sullivan Crovatto and Centerbrook Architects Principal Jim Childress—who presented via videoconference during the 89th IFLA World Library and Information Congress, held Aug. 18 in Astana, Kazakhstan—IFLA public library standing committee and jury member Raneetha Rajaratnam said, “Originally built in 1913, the library has been completely redesigned into a beautiful and welcoming library for the entire community in New Canaan.”

She continued: “The jury was particularly impressed by how the programming of the library gives us all a feeling of a nice, light and welcoming public living room, where the local citizens can meet up for various activities. Everything is designed with a human scale and with a sense of connectedness to the surrounding exterior spaces of the library. This is especially true with the inviting views into the building for the streetscape and different gardens and plazas alongside the library.”

The winner was Gabrielle-Roy Library in Quebec, Canada and the third nominee was Heping Library in Shanghai, China.

Allison Zinczenko

NCHS Grad Emilie Rubinfeld, Global President of Carolina Herrera, Coming to New Canaan Library on Thursday [Q&A]

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New Canaan Library will host its 2025 “Conversations with Business Leaders” event at 7 p.m. Thursday, welcoming 1992 New Canaan High School graduate Emilie Rubinfeld, global president of New York-based luxury fashion house Carolina Herrera (register here). In conversation with Bob Mitchell, co-CEO of Mitchells Stores, Rubinfeld will not only relate insights from helming of one of fashion’s most important legacy houses, but will also informally share looks from the current collection on stage. 

We sat down Monday with library CEO Ellen Crovatto, Exhibitions & Community Engagement Coordinator Miki Porta and Events & Marketing Consultant Allison Zinczenko, to get more details on the widely anticipated talk. Here’s a transcription of our conversation. ***

New Canaanite: What is the library’s ‘Conversations with Business Leaders’ series? Ellen Crovatto: ‘Conversations with Business Leaders’ was something that was begun with the help of Hazel Hobbs about 20 years ago.

Around Town

New Canaan Library Appoints CEO, Director

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One of New Canaan’s most important community organizations on Thursday announced a new leadership team and structure. New Canaan Library officials said in a press release that Ellen Sullivan Crovatto, formerly vice president of external affairs and philanthropy, has been appointed CEO, and that Cheryl Capitani, formerly vice president of operations, is now library director. 

Rob Lowe, chair of the library’s Board of Trustees, said in the release, “Both Ellen and Cheryl were intimately involved in the conception, building, funding and launch of our proud new home; together they helped make this dream a reality.”

He referred to the library’s hugely popular and heavily used new building and reimagined campus at Main and Cherry Streets, open since last February, including the green, which launched earlier this year. Sullivan Crovatto, a town resident for 23 years, led the library’s $40 million-plus capital campaign for the project. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Columbia College and went on to work in corporate finance as a managing director for several international investment banking firms, specializing in private equity fundraising for emerging markets. 

Capitani started at the library as its first full-time teen services librarian in 2013. She has more than 20 years working in libraries and “decades of operational and library knowledge to the position” of director, the press release said.

Around Town

New Canaan Library To Launch ‘Changemakers’ Installation at 1913 Building

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As New Canaan Library prepares to take on the final phase of its remade campus—identifying a function for the 1913 building—it is also using the historic structure for a new art installation. 

And it’s partnering with one of the town’s most important local nonprofit organizations to do it: The New Canaan Museum & Historical Society. 

NCM&HS this month is launching the new Jim and Dede Bartlett Center for New Canaan History. It’s built around a theme of “Making a Difference”—the people, businesses, and events that have shaped  the community. As part of the permanent exhibition, the Museum has an interactive console of 50 New Canaan residents who had a significant impact on the town. Officials from the library looked at the images and biographies and selected six to feature in the windows of the legacy building. “The New Canaan Museum was happy to be the library’s partner in celebrating the lives of transformative New Canaan residents,” said Nancy Geary, executive director of NCM&HS.