Government

Library: Rebuilding Project on Track for Spring As Parking Plan, Schematic Design Get Finalized 

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The timetable for municipal approvals of the widely anticipated New Canaan Library rebuilding project has been pushed back a bit pending details around parking and specifics of financials, the town’s highest elected official said this week. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said Tuesday that he had anticipated the library coming to the Board of Finance this week “with further financial information, but they are waiting for pricing estimates on their project.”

“The Board of Finance has made clear that they want much more specific numbers before they can move forward,” Moynihan said during a regular meeting of the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure, held via videoconference. “The Town Council has made clear that they want to see what is going to Planning & Zoning, which now has slipped a bit to the end of November, apparently.”

The $36 million rebuilding of New Canaan Library is still expected to commence next spring and construction will continue for about two years, the library’s executive director, Lisa Oldham, confirmed when asked about the project. Under a draft Memorandum of Understanding or ‘MOU’ with the town that’s been under negotiation since early this year, the town is to contribute $10 million toward the project while the library bears the balance of the cost through its own fundraising and a $15 million commercial construction loan from Bankwell, documents show. Moynihan said that parking is among the key pieces of the MOU.

Around Town

‘It’s Been a Wonderful Place To Work’: Jeff Zaino Retiring After 37 Years at New Canaan Library

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When Jeff Zaino started as a serials clerk at New Canaan Library in January of 1983, visitors found books by using a card catalogue. 

There was no such thing as the World Wide Web, and Center School—New Canaan’s original elementary school, now an underused parking lot—stood across Maple Street in its final months of occupancy. Now the head of infrastructure at the library—through the years he’s worked as head of circulation, when that involved stamping and signing out books, reference librarian, go-to computer guy and head of digital services, and also helped with collections, selecting religion, philosophy and foreign language books—Zaino will go to work Wednesday for the last time. 

“There’s a lot of excitement and a little bit of anxiety because it’s a new lifestyle,” Zaino said of his retirement. “But certainly I would put it at 90% exhilaration and 10% anxiety.”

His final day bookends a career that has bridged the digital age at New Canaan’s community hub, and marks a farewell to one of the town’s most familiar faces. Zaino is described by longtime colleagues and patrons as a smart, funny, dedicated and adaptable professional whose significant behind-the-scenes work has helped the library staff excel. “He’s super-interesting as a human being,” said Lisa Oldham, the library’s executive director.

Around Town

Library Timeline Calls for P&Z Approvals Early 2021, Late-Spring Start of Construction 

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The $36 million rebuilding of New Canaan Library will commence next spring and construction will continue for about two years, according to plans shared Tuesday with town officials. 

Under a Memorandum of Understanding or ‘MOU’ with the town that’s been under negotiation for months, the town will contribute $10 million toward the project while the library bears the balance of the cost through its own fundraising and a $15 million commercial construction loan from Bankwell, the documents show. A traffic engineer hired by the library has found that an original proposal to create covered parking is problematic, according to a letter from the library’s executive director, Lisa Oldham, and its Board of Trustees. 

Addressing questions that had been raised by the Board of Finance, it’s one of several documents sent to members of the Boards of Selectmen and Finance as well as the Town Council. “The library is committed to the incorporation of a Library Green which is an integral and important part of the overall project,” the letter said. “Therefore, in discussion with several officials at [the town of New Canaan], the Library has commissioned further studies from its engineers and are in full agreement with a plan to accelerate and resolve a plan for parking.”

Taken together, the documents—they include five-year operations budget projections, project schedule and a narrative reviewing new revenues and costs that will come with the rebuilt facility—present a new layer of detail on the widely anticipated project. The town’s funding bodies in preparing to vote on a bond resolution have called in recent meetings for additional information from the library, and the documents address their questions.

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Podcast: New Canaan Library Executive Director Lisa Oldham

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This week on 0684-Radi0, our free weekly podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to New Canaan Library Executive Director Lisa Oldham about the organization’s offerings for the summer and how she anticipates the library will operate as public health-related restrictions are relaxed in the future. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

Around Town

Local Organizations and COVID-19: New Canaan Library

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In today’s Q&A, we hear from New Canaan Library Executive Director Lisa Oldham about services that the organization is offering through the COVID-19 emergency and how the staff is faring, among other matters. 

Here’s our exchange. New Canaanite: I want to talk about the library. First, though, how are you faring? 

Lisa Oldham: Thank you. I’m well. Give me a rundown on what library services are available while the building is physically closed. There are a lot! Digital lending, live-stream programs and technology help are three of the big ones. Our digital collections are excellent and we continue to add more digital content to meet the huge increase in demand. Many library members have not previously borrowed e-books or e-audio books from us so we’ve created how-to videos to help them get them started.