SUNDERLAND — The Sunderland Public Library is now open on Thursdays for “Sensory Friendly Hours,” an initiative that aims to inspire more belonging in the building.
Before starting the Sensory Friendly Hours on July 10, the library opened its doors for a community conversation with residents in June to hear ideas for sensory-friendly changes, or improvements that are geared toward creating a more welcoming and comfortable space for individuals on the autism spectrum.
Sunderland Public Library Director Katherine Umstot said attendees shared helpful insights into their experience in the library, mentioning how strong scents can be distracting and that the building’s can lights look “like spaghetti flying out.”
“The goal was to listen,” Umstot said. “You don’t know until you talk to people what their experience is.”
With attendees’ input in her ear and the help of a $10,000 Libraries Transforming Communities grant from the American Library Association, Thursdays at the library now look, sound and even smell a little different from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Several lights in the library are turned off on Thursdays, with reading lamps available. To accommodate for patrons who prefer the quiet, the Community Room and Reading Room are now blocked off as quiet spaces in the library, with free headphones and earplugs available. Meanwhile, the Young Adult Room and Children’s Room remain “active areas” with closed doors. Umstot said the library also switched to a fragrance-free cleaning solution and soap in the restrooms to become “fragrance-aware.”
If Umstot receives the grant again next year, she hopes to create a sensory-friendly area within the Children’s Room featuring sensory activities.
This fall, though, the library is also hosting some sensory-friendly activities, including two adaptive music classes led by the Community Music School of Springfield on Oct. 9 and Nov. 13, both from 4 to 4:45 p.m. The library is also partnering with Zephyr Behavioral Healthcare to host other activities at the library and bring the library’s Sensory Friendly Story Times to the education center in Hatfield.
Library staff members also participated in trainings to make them more aware of “what autism can look like, what neurodivergence can look like,” Umstot said, as well as learn tips for adapting their customer service to become more sensory-friendly, such as speaking more slowly and allowing a patron the time to think and respond. At the end of Umstot’s list of tips, she closed with, “If these tips sound like good customer service for everyone, that’s because they are.”
“It’s not just about providing better service to people on the autism spectrum, it’s about providing better service to everyone,” Umstot explained.
“Everybody has unique sensory needs, no matter what neurotype you are, no matter if you are disabled or not. It’s just a very human need to figure out if you need a quieter space sometimes or need less lighting or more lighting, or need a space to be loud,” said Phoebe Hynes of Belchertown, director of the Field Memorial Library in Conway.
The grant helps pay Hynes for Thursday hours at the Sunderland Public Library. Before becoming library director in Conway, Hynes worked in special education at Frontier Regional School.
“Accessibility really does help everybody,” said Hynes, who identifies as neurodivergent. “Everybody has their unique needs.”
Hynes stressed that the Sensory Friendly Hours are about more than inclusion, but belonging. “Inclusion is one thing, but belonging is the moment where everything really does come together.”
Teenagers from the North Star Center for Self-Directed Learning for Teens will also be volunteering on Thursday afternoons to offer further help.
For Umstot, ensuring a sense of belonging for people on the autism spectrum has “always been a passion project.” She added that many people in her life are on the autism spectrum.
“They are important members of our community,” she said, “and they deserve to feel like that.”
Umstot added that the Sensory Friendly Hours embody the library’s purpose.
“Libraries are for everyone, and we should make them so.”