By Adam Swift
The Chelsea Public Library’s proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget was before the city council’s ways and means subcommittee during budget hearings last week.
The department’s proposed budget for FY27 is $547,496, up just under $31,000 from the current year.
Some of the library highlights from the past year include overall improvements made to the Children’s Room, which include the reorganization of collections, a focus on collection development, updated labeling of materials, and new furniture.
Library officials stated that the Children’s, Teen, and Adult departments continued to focus on community outreach by partnering with local agencies and city departments on projects, initiatives, and citywide events.
Some of the goals for the coming year include improving archival access and collection maintenance and expanding the archives area as well as creating meeting and study spaces, as well as updating and adding materials for the adult collections, including the Spanish print collection.
Councilor-at-Large Kelly Garcia asked about the number of Chelsea students who have used the library over the past year.
“This current school year, we saw huge numbers,” said library director Lisa Mucciarone. “In fact, it was challenging for the staff because there were so many students, and middle school was the biggest amount of kids we saw. We started having them sign little agreements about using the space, and we got over 250 signed agreements, so it was a really busy school year this year.”
District 5 Councilor Lisa Santagate said she was glad to see that there were plans in place to work on the library archives.
“Because we don’t have a community center for our children, do you feel like the library is an outlet for those individuals who come home to parents who are working and are not home?” District 4 Councilor Tanairi Garcia asked. “Do you feel like you need more support from the city or more resources for those children who have hardworking parents and don’t have that support at home and look for other outlets?”
Mucciarone said this year the library did see the space used more as a hangout space because they really weren’t using the resources.
“But it was important for them to have a space to come to,” she said.
“It was challenging, so we could use more hands. We did use our partners, recreation came in, Youth Hub, and they worked with us.”