GRAND ISLE, Vt. (WCAX) – Fourteen libraries across Vermont are next in line for a spruce-up thanks to newly doled out federal funds.
“We’ve tried for 20 years to get a new building,” said Colleen Bushway, who has lived in Grand Isle for nearly 49 years and has been a central character at the Grand Isle Free Library for most of that time. Now, Bushway gets to usher the over 100-year-old tiny community library into its next chapter. “It’s going to be anywhere between 4,000 and 5,000 square feet. This one is 914 square feet, she said.
Thanks to federal American Rescue Plan funds, the library will turn a new page, providing much more space for people to access the internet, and free community programming. “COVID taught everyone a great lesson — when kids could not go to school, they could go to the library. And up until then, the people say, ‘Oh, libraries are going to be nonexistent in 20 years…’ And they learned it’s an important place,” Bushway said.
Fourteen public libraries across Vermont will receive one-time grants for building improvements. Johnson will move its library away from the flood zone to a more central part of town.
The Department of Libraries’ Catherine Delneo says most libraries in Vermont were built in the 1920s or earlier, but they still play a crucial role. She says making these investments allows communities to access high-speed internet for work, education, and health monitoring.
“This will really help those folks in those communities to use the internet at the public library, in addition to everything else they do at the public library, that’s the real thrust of this,” Delneo said. “All the communities in Vermont want the best for their library, and it’s such a great resource for folks. So, we’re really encouraging people to get out there and visit their library if they haven’t lately, and to think about how can we support our community in having this resource in the future.”
If all goes to plan, construction will begin in Grand Isle in February of 2025.
