MARION — A renovation project to make the Elizabeth Taber Library more accessible and improve the building’s spaces will temporarily relocate the library in early 2025.

The project aims to make the center of the library compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act by widening aisles between book shelving and lowering part of the circulation desk. There are also plans to reconfigure shelving to make it easier to browse and to expand the library's meeting room and children’s room, according to library director Elizabeth Sherry.

“Obviously this is a very beloved space, but we could not be more excited to be able to offer a more comfortable space,” Sherry said.

The project is funded entirely by an anonymous donor, according to library trustees Kyle Pardo and David Finn-Clarke. 

Pardo and Finn-Clarke declined to comment on the projected cost of the renovations. At a Marion Select Board meeting in July, Pardo said the work was expected to cost $600,000 to $700,000.

“It was a very generous donation, and it is funding this project from beginning to end,” Finn-Clarke said.

Work is expected to begin in early January. The library will remain open during that initial period of the project. 

“It might be a little loud at times, but it's all to give us this beautiful, new, comfortable, more inclusive space,” Sherry said.

As work expands into February, Taber Library will move for the month to the Marion Music Hall, where it will temporarily operate in a reduced capacity. The library is then expected to reopen in early March.

While at the Marion Music Hall, the library will have a reduced collection available, and some programming will be able to continue in the interim. Patrons will still be able to place holds and return books, according to Sherry.

Library visitors will also continue to have access to the SAILS network of libraries in southeastern Massachusetts, according to Finn-Clarke.

With the renovations, the library’s meeting room will be widened and enlarged such that the space could possibly, with a temporary dividing wall, actually accommodate two separate meeting areas, according to Sherry. 

The library’s interior will also be refreshed, Pardo said.

The new lighting, furniture, paint and carpeting will make for “a much more modern experience for people coming into the library,” Pardo said.

“I'm really excited about this project because we have a great library for a small town,” Pardo said. “We do a wonderful job with the space that we have, but it hasn't been renovated in a lot of years.” 

Finn-Clarke said the renovations bring the library “up to modern day standards.”

Pardo in July also said the Marion Natural History Museum, which operates a floor above the library in the same building, would not be affected by the project.

As preparations for the project begin, patrons will not be able to reserve meeting room spaces after Dec. 15 until the library reopens next year, Sherry said.

Beginning in December and throughout January, patrons to Elizabeth Taber Library may also experience delays and see work in progress and items taken into storage, according to Sherry.

“It all is for that ultimate goal of having a better library,” Sherry said. 

It may get a little dusty, a little noisy and a little annoying inside the library, Sherry said, but to have in the end a “beautiful, accommodating space” to better serve the Marion community is a “very exciting prospect.”