Rockport Public Library opens new building

ROCKPORT, Maine (WABI) - The Rockport Public Library is ready to begin a new chapter.

The new building on Limerock Street went up where the original one was taken down.

For the past 5 years, the Library operated out of a temporary location.

“We shoe horned a library into a warehouse, and it was not ideal, so the nice thing about this building, or one of the very nice things about this is that it was really thoughtfully designed to be a library.”

The project was made possible by a 1.5 million dollar bond from the town, and 2 million dollars that was raised by private donors.

“That was a thing where you can really see the community coming together in order to make this happen, I mean if people didn’t really want it, it would never of happened, and it’s really nice to see sort of everybody coming together and then people using the building,” says Director Ben Blackmon.

The library shut down it’s warehouse location back in October to prepare for the move.

Director Ben Blackmon says he can’t wait to see all the patrons again.

The tough part, will be making sure COVID-19 guidelines are followed amid the excitement.

“We try to keep people in the building for 30 minutes or less, we have a patron limit of 10 people in the building at anytime, then of course we’re cleaning everything all the time. We also quarantine every item that comes in from patrons for 72 hours before we deem them safe to go back on the shelves or go back out to other libraries,” says Blackmon.

Many locals have yet to visit the library since it opened on Thursday.

For those who have, Blackmon says the reaction has been all positive.

“People have been stunned, people have been really excited to see the place and to have access to the library,” says Blackmon.

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