Community Members and Leaders On Hand To Kick Off Rogers Memorial Library Revitalization Campaign on Saturday Afternoon

During a few brief remarks to the community members gathered around the crackling indoor fireplace on the main floor of the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton Village on Saturday afternoon, Mayor Bill Manger referenced a quote from Albert Einstein to emphasize the importance of the library’s new $2 million revitalization campaign: “The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.”

That advice from the famed physicist, Manger said, still rings true in Southampton Village, where the Rogers Memorial Library has been an important community asset and gathering place since it first opened at its former location on Jobs Lane in 1896, thanks to a bequest made by Harriet Jones Rogers. Built in 1895, Rogers Memorial Library — named in memory of Harriet’s mother, Clarissa Rogers — became so popular that only 20 years after it first opened its doors, the library was expanded.

In 2000, the library moved to its current location in a new building on Coopers Farm Road. The main library and Cooper Hall, adjacent to the library on the same property, encompass a total of 26,500 square feet, and it serves 40,000 people annually.

On Saturday afternoon, Manger was on hand, along with NBC news anchor and Southampton Village resident Chuck Scarborough, Library Director Liz Burns, Foundation Board President George Crawford and other library trustees and patrons for a reception to announce and kick off the library’s revitalization campaign. Attendees were treated to free pizza from Scotto’s, which brought its pizza truck, as well as free ice cream from the Mr. Softee ice cream truck, which was parked outside. There was also face painting and arts and crafts for children in the children’s room.

The $2 million project will pay for a large-scale interior renovation and upgrades inside the library, which is celebrating 25 years in its current location.

Burns, who also spoke to the crowd that gathered for the reception, said that while the building itself is “beautiful” and has “fantastic bones,” it’s time for an interior glow-up to meet the growing and evolving needs of the community.

“We don’t have to do a lot of structural changes to the building,” she said. “But it’s the inside that we need to change. We need to update the space and use the space differently. We’re offering services that are quite different in some cases than what we offered 25 years ago.”

The revitalization project — which Burns said the library hopes to start working on in January — will include several exciting features. The small teen department on the main level will be expanded, and Burns pointed out that Rogers was the first library on Long Island and possibly in New York State to have a designated area for teens rather than putting teen books in one small corner of a children’s room.

Throughout the entire library there will be all new furnishings and library tables, and the project will also include moving the reference desk from the lower level to the main floor, making it more accessible to the public.

The Next-Gen Tech Lab, located on the lower level, will be updated, and three new quiet study rooms will be added, where community members can come to make Zoom calls or do other quiet study or projects. Burns said adding those rooms has been a big request post-COVID. The revitalization project will also include the creation of an office space for outreach services, which will help staff members assist community members more effectively and efficiently in everything from passport applications and notary services to social work services.

The children’s play area will also be expanded, and the beloved play ship that sits in the middle of the children’s room will be moved to a different area for better utilization of the space and to allow for shelving more books.

One of the most exciting features of the project — which elicited murmurs of excitement and approval from the crowd when Burns mentioned it — is the addition of a library cafe just off the main lobby, which will serve hot and cold beverages and bakery-style treats.

“I think you’re going to be really happy with what you see here when it’s finished,” Burns said, adding that because the project does not include any major structural changes or construction, it should be finished in a matter of months. “It’s going to be beautiful. We just have to keep this place shining. It’s always shined.”

Having to undertake a revitalization project 25 years after the library moved into the new and expansive building is “a great problem to have,” Burns said.

“The library is being used so much that it’s showing its wear and tear,” she said.

Scarborough spoke before Manger took the microphone, encouraging community members to support the project and speaking about the special place the library has had in his heart over the years. He spoke about a mix-up many years ago, when he hosted a fundraiser for the library at his home on First Neck Lane. He said that, somehow, his home number had gotten mixed up as the library number, and people would call his house on a regular basis asking if he had a certain book they were looking for or making other inquiries. He laughed about it, but said the mixup had the unintended effect of making him feel even more invested in the library and its success.

“I have a relationship with this building unlike anyone else,” he said, adding that his grandchildren frequent the library when they come to visit.

Scarborough added that, just like in the news industry, libraries have had to adjust how they do business to try to reach people where they are.

“That’s exactly what’s going on here,” he said. “Times change and the library had to adapt. The library has expanded its scope so dramatically to respond to the community, and this is yet another necessary step to continue to evolve.”