LENOX, Mass. – Leaders at the Lenox Library say the facility is in need of repairs, and they can’t put them off much longer. 

Some of the major items include the chimneys, upgrading the sprinkler and boiler systems and working on the dome room roof.

“That room has a beautiful dome ceiling that we started seeing shifts coming through in cracks, so we had engineers come in and they assessed the structure underneath. And so that structure needs to be stabilized in order to prevent the dome from moving,” Library Director Katherine O’Neil said.

O’Neil said the project for the dome, chimney and roof was initially estimated to cost about $2 million in 2021, but after a failed bid for a general contractor, the project was postponed. Now, after a building conditions assessment, the total for immediate projects and repairs is around $5.6 million.

“They identified immediate repairs, repairs that need to be done in 1-5 years and then long-term repairs. So the immediate and 1-5-year repairs that they have identified as priorities is at $5.6 million.”

The dome room, which needs repairs, has been closed since 2023. 

“It’s also where our adult computers were. Most of our ports for the computers are in that room, so that was a big impact on our ability to provide that space, especially for our adult users, or remote work for people that like to come to the library,” O’Neil said.

O’Neil said it’s important to get the room back open because with summer visitors and kids' programs, it was hard to accommodate people who want a quiet space as well as a space for children.

“We had our busiest summer to date with our visitation, and so finding spaces where people could work quietly and also provide spaces for children to be children and enjoy the library activities, you know, we couldn’t always meet both those needs simultaneously,” O’Neil said.

The next step for the library is to meet with an architect and engineer to come up with a plan moving forward to bring to the special town meeting that is in December.