By Lauren Olsen

The dust has settled, and the heavy equipment has been cleared from the parking lot; the Westfield Washington Library is in its last days of construction. All that is left to do is the landscaping outside the building and re-arranging some shelving and books inside.

“I can’t wait for it to be exactly what we envisioned,” WWPL Director Sheryl Sollars said. “I think it turned out wonderfully.”

Sollars expects everything to be completed shortly and plans to have a grand re-opening in June. The entire project cost $2 million and included a new 1,500-square-foot community room, a separate teen area, an expanded children’s area, a new entrance, circulation desk, computer lab, audiovisual area, public restrooms and four new study rooms.

Throughout the entire 11-month construction project things have gone smoothly, with the exception of some weather related issues over the winter.

“We kept very close to the budget,” Sollars said.

Parts of the newly renovated library are already in use and the library held an employee appreciation dinner as its first event in the new community room. They are holding classes in the new computer room and began “story-time” in the updated children’s pit on April 21.

“The biggest transformation has been creating more public space with study rooms and the community room. We tried to minimize the staff area so we could expand the area for the community,” Sollars said.

The library is already getting calls about booking the new community room, and plans to rent the room free of charge for nonprofits; they have not yet finalized terms of use for other groups yet.

“I want to thank the community for its patience while we moved everything around, and also for their loyalty and staying with us. I’m so thankful to my staff for providing great customer service throughout this whole process,” Sollars said.