The town shuttered it as a branch of the Belmont Public Library in 2009; two months ago, after a concerted campaign by supporters, it was reopened as a nonprofit, volunteer-run library with about 6,500 books. So far, 200 residents have signed up for a library card. For neighbors like the Harrises, the Benton is more convenient than heading to the town library near Belmont Center.
“It was a lot farther, so we had to get somebody to drive us,” Jane said.
Belmont is not the first area community to close public library branches and have them reopened as volunteer-run institutions.
A year after branches of the Newton Free Library in Waban and Auburndale were closed in 2008, residents reopened them as nonprofit libraries funded entirely by donations.
Two branches of the Wellesley Free Library were closed in 2006, and then run with money raised by local supporters for a while, and reopened as town-funded branches two years later. In Grafton, the Nelson Memorial Library was closed by the town two years ago, but is now open two days a week and staffed by volunteers.
The volunteer librarians see themselves as temporary stewards of the buildings and books. They hope that their communities will find enough money to once again run the libraries with paid staff and longer hours.
The libraries usually aren’t open as many hours as they were when taxes paid for library directors and other staff members.
The Benton Library is now open two days a week, five hours a day, with an additional Friday evening and Saturday afternoon once a month. In the fall, organizers plan to open the library for an additional day.
In Newton, the Auburndale Community Library is now open 15 hours each week, and the Waban Library Center is open for 20, with additional operating hours during the school year.
The Auburndale and Waban libraries are among the most active of this new breed.
