AMHERST — An effort to make the expanded and renovated Jones Library a safe, welcoming and inclusive space kicks off with community feedback events starting Wednesday.
The initiative, as part of the Your Jones Library Month, begins at noon at Munson Memorial Library, next to the South Amherst common, and is being put on by the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion subcommittee for the board of trustees.
Pat Romney and Angelica Castro will serve as facilitators, with the input to be used to improve the 43 Amity St. library when it reopens next spring after the $46.1 million project is complete. Additional 90-minute sessions are scheduled for Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. at 101 University Drive and Sept. 19 at 10 a.m. at the Bangs Community Center.
“We welcome you to bring your hopes and concerns so that the library can serve everyone in the community,” Romney said. “Together, we will envision your new Jones Library.”
All events will include free parking, refreshments and childcare. Registration can be done at amherstma.gov/Jones-Library-Feedback-Sessions, especially for those who depend on childcare.
Meanwhile, the subcommittee and the library are collaborating with the town’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion department and its director, Pamela Nolan Young, and assistant director, Philip Avila.
“Reopening the Jones Library is about more than reopening a building,” said Avila. “It is about ‘belonging,’ which means seeing yourself reflected in the spaces and services around you, and this is an opportunity to build a library where every resident feels valued, included, and truly at home.”
Members of the JEDI subcommittee have been planning these community outreach sessions for more than a year, said trustee Farah Ameen, who chairs the panel.
“To me, the library represents our diverse community — my family has always felt unconditionally welcome here,” Ameen said.
She added that the completed project will mean inclusivity, accessibility and community connection.
“We hope the new building helps bridge differences in our community and reconnects people,” Library Director Sharon Sharry said in a statement. “At the end of the day, we are making space for future generations; nothing could be more important.”
