Erickson Memorial Library in Spicer reopens its doors after major renovation completed

SPICER -- Two months ago, Erickson Memorial Library in Spicer was close to spilling out of its small location in City Hall.

"It was hard to shelve," said librarian Sheila Bosch, a near 20-year employee of Erickson Memorial Library. "These shelves were just filled from the top to the bottom and next we were thinking of stacking (materials) on top."

With a recently completed 2,850-square-foot addition, avid readers of the Spicer area can now step inside Erickson Memorial Library and enjoy a whole new world of roominess.

Bosch said patrons are astonished at the library's spaciousness. What she hears most from habitual visitors is "Where do I go now?" because materials have been rearranged in the expanded space.

The library reopened Feb. 12 after being closed since Jan. 1 for interior construction of the addition.

An official open house of the renovated library space is expected to take place April or May.

Construction began in the fall of 2007, but the library closed only for a few weeks while workers finished the addition's interior. Bosch said it could have been much longer without the cooperation of the contractor.

"Grefe Construction ... worked with me so that I was able to stay open for as long as possible," Bosch said. "A lot happened in those four weeks and they were very gracious to have let me ... be open to the public as long as they could."

Once the majority of the interior was completed, Bosch said, it took her three weeks to set up the library while bumping elbows with tradesmen.

"I think I touched everything in this library five times, at least," Bosch said.

Bosch's work to reopen quickly is not going unappreciated. Library users are already commenting about the library's new openness and how easy it is to find materials.

Shanan Anderson of New London said she and her children visit the library at least once a week and they love its new makeover. Anderson said the addition makes the interior much brighter and easier for users to find books, CDs and DVDs in the larger space.

Before the addition, Anderson said, two people couldn't even fit in an aisle between bookcases.

"Now it's easy to spend an hour, hour-and-a-half in there with the kids," Anderson said.

Robin deCathelineau, a member of Spicer's library board, shared Anderson's sentiments, saying it also allowed for additional library materials and "meeting the needs of all our patrons."