The fifth of seven bite-sized episodes that capture the transformational impact of six new libraries, this episode focuses on sustainability and resilience measures. Hear library administrators from across the Commonwealth, who represent urban, suburban, and rural libraries discuss thermal comfort, healthy air, better energy bills or lack thereof, and the library serving as a teaching tool within their community.
The fifth of seven bite-sized episodes that capture the transformational impact of six new libraries, this episode focuses on sustainability and resilience measures. Hear library administrators from across the Commonwealth, who represent urban, suburban, and rural libraries discuss thermal comfort, healthy air, better energy bills or lack thereof, and the library serving as a teaching tool within their community.
Andrea Bono-Bunker 00:00
Welcome to the Building Literacy: Public Library Construction podcast, which is brought to you by the library building specialists at the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. I am Andrea Bono-Bunker, and I am joined by my colleague Lauren Stara. A befitting end to Lauren's decade long legacy before her retirement, we are bringing you the fifth of seven bite sized episodes that capture the transformational impact of six new libraries via the words of their directors and assistant directors. This episode focuses on sustainability and resilience measures built into the design of these new libraries and how these libraries act as a teaching tool within their communities. We welcome our panel of dedicated library administrators from across the Commonwealth who represent urban, suburban, and rural libraries. Thank you for teaching us about your buildings. Let's start with introductions.
Lauren Stara 00:48
I'm Lauren. I am the library building consultant for the MBLC.
00:54
I'm Celeste Bruno, communications director at the MBLC.
Mark Makuc 00:59
Hi, I'm Mark Makuc. I'm the director of the Monterey library.
Patrick Borezo 01:03
Patrick Brazeau, director of the Hadley Public Library.
Rachel Breen 01:06
I'm Rachel Breen, and I'm the director of the Norwell Public Library.
Barbara Kerr 01:11
I'm Barbara Kerr. I'm the director of the Medford Public Library.
Jean Canosa Albano 01:15
I'm Jean Canosa Albano, the assistant director at the Springfield City Library.
Hermayne Gordon 01:20
My name is Hermayne Gordon, and I'm the director at the Woburn Public Library.
Andrea Bono-Bunker 01:25
We're gonna get into sustainability and resilience. We are talking on a late October day where typically the temperature is in the high 50s. But we're talking today on a day that's going to be in the high 70s. So how has your library's increased sustainability and resilience measures made a difference in terms of overall indoor comfort, the operation of your spaces and or the education of the community- so using the building as a teaching tool, or allowing for programming that does so? So Mark, what have you seen in Monterey?
Mark Makuc 02:01
Well, we were awarded LEED certification and it's very helpful. Monterey tries to be very green. That's the Berkshire's, that's a big thing out here. And it's great to be able to tell people, you know, we've just about double the size of the building, we're open 50%, more than we were before, but our fuel bill is the same. So you know, the nuts and bolts of this is that yes, it has worked well here. And going into COVID just a little bit though, the best part about this is that the HVAC was so good, my staff felt so safe, and people felt so comfortable coming in, we were only closed for those few short weeks the Governor told us to close. We started curbside immediately. And then as soon as limited browsing happened, we were there. We took our chairs out, and you know, don't hang out, but come in. And people came in from all over, because not everybody had the good HVAC system that would, you know, make people feel comfortable. The one big statistic that I'll throw out today for us, you know, in 2021, we had 29 circs per capita, which is a very high number. I know that we were attracting people from other towns coming here, because they wanted to browse, they wanted a sense of normalcy. And in the old library, again, it just wouldn't have been. It was not possible. I don't know if my staff would have wanted to be here. And I don't know if the public would have come in. But having the new HVAC system, it made all the difference in the world.
Andrea Bono-Bunker 03:30
More focus is being put now on healthy air. And Lauren can speak a lot about that as a WELL professional. It's a huge issue that was not paid attention to before. And we've talked with HVAC engineers in the past. And they said before, they would just oversize the systems and there was not a focus put on filtration or bringing in outside air and really making that air healthy air. So it's great that your community felt comfortable. Patrick, what have you seen in Hadley?
Patrick Borezo 04:03
Well, we've actually had some challenges. You know, our building is supposed to incorporate a solar array on the roof, and we have yet to be able to get that in place. And that is too long of a story to get into here, so I'm going to not tell that story. But I would focus on that kind of comfort level, the improved comfort level in the library that benefits not only the public. You know, I mean, this is a space that as you're saying, we, you know, we have a lot of kind of change happening in the climate, and we're having hotter days. We're having a lot of rainy weather, and having a public space like this where we've been used several times in the community as a cooling center during the summer. And it's a very comfortable place to be, so a lot of people are coming in to, you know, beat the heat or to spend a cold winter day, you know, reading the paper or doing whatever they're doing. And they're much more comfortable in a way that they never could have been in the old library, which was very drafty and not that comfortable at various times of the year. So I think that is a huge improvement. And I also would say that, and this is something that we don't really talk about that much, but, I mean, the change for the staff themselves, the comfort level of being able to work in a modern, ventilated building with good heating and air conditioning, even the stuff like having a proper break room for people to be able to sit down out of the public eye and have a lunch break is such a small thing. But it's made such a huge difference, I think for the morale of the library staff, and it's made it much more of a pleasure to come to work and just not feel like you're on a camping trip.
Andrea Bono-Bunker 05:29
I think that even cooling and heating is huge. I think we can probably all remember in our former libraries, you know, there was always that one staff member who had on fingerless gloves and a down jacket trying to type at their computer.
Patrick Borezo 05:44
Now our fingerless glove folks, they wear them in the summer. Some people are never happy.
Andrea Bono-Bunker 05:48
That's true. That's great. Well, it's not great that they're wearing fingerless gloves, but, you know, that they're cool enough in the summertime that they're not being exposed to heat exhaustion, which is good. Rachel, what have you seen in Norwell?
Rachel Breen 06:00
Well, similar to what Patrick said, in terms of, you know, indoor comfort, our new HVAC system has made a huge difference. In the old building, the HVAC system, it wasn't very dependable. The library was always drafty. It was either too hot or too cold, and the system itself was extremely loud. When it turned on, it was very disruptive, especially in our meeting room, which was a problem when we had programming in there. With the new HVAC, the temperature in the new building is uniform throughout the building, and it's almost completely silent, which is amazing. So it's really made a huge difference to the comfort level of patrons definitely. And we also received LEED silver certification. And we have a designated digital display in the library that provides, you know, all the information about the building that allowed us to achieve that. And we found that it's kind of been a point of pride in the the town that we were able to achieve this and have a green building. It's definitely, I think, generated a lot of interest in sustainability. And as the town looks to build or update new town facilities, we found that the town has been coming to the library to tour it, to look at it, see what we're doing in terms of sustainability measures, and asking questions to, you know, look ahead for the future of other town buildings. So, so that's been great.
Andrea Bono-Bunker 07:21
So you've really been leading by example, which is great. And correct me if I'm wrong with this, but I believe- because you have a lot of plantings on your property. You're like a little library in the woods, which is amazing, such a serene environment. But your plantings are supposed to be low maintenance and easily kept up so that you're not having to use a lot of water or staff time.
Rachel Breen 07:44
Yes, we were. We were very adamant during the project that we needed a low maintenance landscape. And the architect and our landscape engineer, they found a way to integrate the plantings into our stormwater management system, which is great. So it requires very little maintenance, which is great.
Lauren Stara 08:04
And Norwell, your site is also home to a lot of wetlands. And there had to be a lot of careful planning to not disturb those wetlands. And there's a rain garden in the courtyard in the center to manage stormwater. There was a lot of thought and careful planning that went into the resilience of the water management on the site in light of climate change and increased rainwater force because our storms are shorter, but more, what's the word? More...
Andrea Bono-Bunker 08:38
Intense.
Lauren Stara 08:39
More intense! That's the word. Yes. So the same amount of water falls, but it falls in a shorter period of time. And so managing that water on a site can be a real challenge. And they really focused on that with your project.
Andrea Bono-Bunker 08:54
So resilience was at the forefront in all of that planning and design, which is great. Definitely. And Medford, which has been touted as our program's first standalone net-zero building. And I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about what you're experiencing.
Barbara Kerr 09:15
It's net-zero. It took a while. Well, it was supposed to be net-zero and I was having a bit at people, because we kept getting large electrical bills, and no one was listening to me. So finally the facilities manager checked and it turned out that the electric car charger station had been attached to the electrical panel for the building. So the bills were for the electric charger, not for the building. The building itself is net-zero. I think we didn't have all of the solar going for probably the first six or seven months of the year. But we are net-zero now, which is a wonderful thing to be able to talk to the people who didn't like the library in the first place. And we can say, you know, "That's umpteen $1,000 worth of fuel that we are not paying for anymore," which is very good. The other thing is isn't it nice to be able to change the temperature in one room instead of either it's on or it's off? My office, depending on how I'm feeling that day, can be many different temperatures, and we can adjust everything. We did discover that the vents on the second floor are a little bit too small for the size of the space, so the temperature is not quite as well adjusted up there, but it's fine. It's better than it was before when it was either on or off. The net-zero piece of it is very nice. And I was just frantic when it wasn't. But now that it is, it's something that the mayor can brag about, and the trustees can brag about, we can put it in all of our publicity materials, because it is, it's great. And thank you for being dogged about that, for pursuing it. And I know, Patrick, you're pursuing yours in the same way. So Medford, you have a sustainability coordinator within your city, right? Sort of? They've added a facilities manager.
Andrea Bono-Bunker 10:52
Great.
Barbara Kerr 10:53
And I think sustainability is part of his remit.
Andrea Bono-Bunker 10:56
So they've created a position that has both then. Great. And during the planning and design, because you pivoted pretty quickly in the design phase, because you were not originally a net-zero building, and then that changed, right?
Barbara Kerr 11:09
Just partway through, they realized that when they did the numbers that it was supposed to be, it was gonna be net- zero on paper, not in reality. But now it generates the electricity to run the building.
Andrea Bono-Bunker 11:19
Absolutely. And you have a variable refrigerant flow system, a VRF system with air source heat pumps, I believe. And the roof was really created to be able to position solar in the most optimal way. So a lot of the design came from trying to really make this a net-zero building. So it's a great model for the libraries throughout the state.
Barbara Kerr 11:46
And it worked. I told the architects about the electric car charger, and she said, "Yeah, we've added that into all of our constructions now as don't do that."
Andrea Bono-Bunker 11:58
Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, that's a testament to the fact that people are buying electric cars and using them, which is also a good thing. Right?
Barbara Kerr 12:06
Yeah, that's been very successful, too.
Andrea Bono-Bunker 12:08
Fantastic. Thank you for sharing that. And Jean, what have you seen at East Forest Park in Springfield?
Jean Canosa Albano 12:16
There was some talk during some of the neighborhood association meetings, some advocacy for including solar panels in the design. And that did not happen. The building did achieve silver status LEED certification. At the time, the city of Springfield- that would be charged with maintaining the building- at the time, they did not feel that they could handle maintenance of the solar panels and other things related to it. However, I am seeing that it's more in the consciousness. So I think the community conversations elevated that, and there have been some steps taken by the city, not necessarily for East Forest Park branch library, but potentially for our next project and other city buildings. So just the talk about that raised some thoughts in people's minds. They weren't ready for them, but looks like they're going to be ready for the next time. People talking about HVAC, I'll mention that we had assessments of all of our buildings done when we were closed down for the pandemic, but still working. And East Forest Park was one of the locations where it wasn't deemed required to have the air exchange filters running. So that was a testament to the type of HVAC system that's there. But I think somebody hit on this little bit previously. A different type of resilience is taking care of staff so they can be resilient, and we used to have a closet for a staff room at our old branch. And now there's very comfortable staff workspaces and separate staff bathroom, and a staff kitchenette- places to retire from the work day and get recharged. And so I thought that was a very, very important part of the design, something we would want to include in any future project- making sure that staff are taken care of, so you can take care of everybody else.
Andrea Bono-Bunker 14:14
Exactly. And as we talked about in a previous question, your building is the result of a catastrophic event and coming back from that, and the resilience within the community as well. And Hermayne, how about in Woburn?
Hermayne Gordon 14:30
So I would say that, again, with the planning of the library, and some of this I still need to learn more about, but I do know that we're always comfortable in the space. And when we had the fires up in Canada coming down, we didn't have an issue in the library. So whatever we have in place, it clearly was able to keep the air clean. In fact, I was watching a program recently about how important it is that the air is healthy in buildings, so definitely on that that level, it's comfortable. And again, when it's really hot out, we have a lot of people coming just to stay cool in the library. That's another good thing about the space that we have. And we have other sustainability things that were built in that should help us with our electric bills, even though they went up. But we have, you know, the LED lighting, the lighting when you are not in the room, the lighting goes off. We have the flow of the taps in the bathrooms, the water just doesn't flow, it's on a timer. I think the bathrooms or the flush, doesn't use a lot of water.
Andrea Bono-Bunker 15:31
I'm so happy that you're bringing up low-flow faucets and water-saving flushing toilets are main because we haven't talked about water yet in terms of sustainability. And water is a finite resource just as anything else that we use in this world. And the LED lighting that you mentioned, all of the elements that you've mentioned about the open public library's addition helped it achieve LEED Gold status. They had to separate out the existing Richardson building, which was built in 1877 and 1878, because it could not attain the same level. However, I also don't want anyone to walk away from this thinking that historic buildings do not have the ability to be efficient or the ability to be resilient because that is not the case. When you think about the time periods in which some of these buildings have been built, they did not have certain elements that we take for granted today at their disposal. So they really had to think about citing for optimal daylighting. They had to think about thermal massing, and they made their masonry walls extremely thick. They may have put in smaller windows and heavy, heavy doors in order to mitigate air transfer between the exterior environment and the interior environment. They had to think about a lot of these issues that we think about today, too, but for different reasons. The most sustainable building that you can have, as we've heard in other episodes of this podcast, is the building that already exists, because then you're also lessening your impact on the environment by having less embodied carbon because you're reusing materials. So with all of that said, I want to thank all of you for sharing your stories of sustainability and resilience, and how you're using your buildings as a teaching tool for your community. Comfort is achievable with sustainable solutions. Thank you again, and thank you to our listeners for tuning in. We hope you'll join us for our sixth installment of this seven part series. And the next installment is about the community's response to these libraries. Until next time!