Staff Writer

 When McArthur Library Director Dora St. Martin looked behind a closed second floor door two years ago, she knew something had to be done with the empty space.

Two years later, the library is preparing for renovations that will increase space and better fit the current needs of patrons. The renovation, expected to be done by late fall, will create a quiet reading area, new meeting room, more wireless Internet connections and a space for teenagers.

St. Martin said plans call for the conversion of 2,100 square feet that have sat empty since 1995 when the library didn’t have enough money to finish the room. The space is at the front of the second floor and has large windows that provide a view of the library gardens and Main Street.

McArthur Library is housed in the former Pavilion Church, which was founded in 1855 after Frederick Douglas was denied the pulpit at the Second Parish Congregational Church in Biddeford. Abolitionist members of the church were disappointed and met in a pavilion tent erected for the 1855 Maine Republican Party convention. The brick church was built by Boston architect John Stevens.

The Romanesque-style church was put up for sale in 1906. Robert McArthur, an agent from the Pepperell Mills, bought the church and created an endowment to reestablish the library, which was lost in the 1894 city hall fire. The steeple of the church was later removed and additions were made in 1962 and 1995.

The library staff would like to fill the new reading room with comfortable chairs so patrons have a quiet place to sit and relax. Nearby, tables will provide laptop users more space to work with easy access to electrical plugs, which currently are hard to come by.

A meeting room with projection equipment will be large enough for groups of about 15 people. It will be separated from the rest of the second floor by a wood and etched glass partition.

“We’ve had a lot of demand for community meeting room space. We never have enough,” St. Martin said. “It will get plenty of use.”

A wall that now separates the unused room from the rest of the second floor will be removed and open up the space to more sunlight, St. Martin said. New carpets will be put down throughout the second floor and condensed shelving will be used to house more of the library’s local history collection.

“We’re really determined the whole second floor look spiffy,” said Assistant Library Director Sally Leahey.

Another major part of the renovation is creation of a space for teenagers. St. Martin said the library has a very active group of teenagers who will contribute ideas to the plan. A third of a large second floor room will be for teens and separated by 6-foot etched glass partitions, Leahey said. Counters with seating may be added along one wall.

“The teens will have an area they own. They’ll realize they’re an important part of the community for us,” Leahey said.

The total cost of the project is expected to be around $250,000 and the library hopes to raise $100,000 to reach that total, St. Martin said. The library has received donations for the project since 1995 and the renovation will not use the regular operating budget, which is partially funded by the city. 

St. Martin and Leahey said the plans were developed to provide flexibility in the way the space is used in the future.

“We’ve tried hard to plan the space to be flexible because it’s hard to predict what we’ll need 10 years from now,” Leahey said.

Librarians already have seen changes in how people use the library, but St. Martin said she is certain the library always will have a place in the community. The library is 16 percent busier since 2009, when the economy was struggling and more people turned to the library for books and a free Internet connection.

“They come and see the library as a community space. They want something akin to their living room,” St. Martin said.

St. Martin said she has seen an increase in the number of unemployed or self-employed people who come to the library to work on their laptops. Those people seem to prefer to spread out and sit in comfortable chairs instead of working at long communal tables.

“People want to be comfortable and have their tools or devices on their person,” St. Martin said.

St. Martin, who is involved with creating a downtown master plan with the Heart of Biddeford, said the library’s plans seem to fit into what residents have said they want to see downtown.

“As the downtown develops, we think there’s going to be a very lively scene on Main Street,” St. Martin said. “We’re hoping it will add another space to downtown.”

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.