Lee-Whedon mostly packed up inside before closing for 6 weeks after March 21

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – It’s a radical different look inside Lee-Whedon Memorial Library these days. There aren’t too many tables or chairs left, and the big book shelves are mostly gone.

The books are on temporary shelves with wheels. Those shelves will be rolled into storage pods for interior work on the library as part of a $5.2 million capital project.

The library will close next Saturday on March 21 and reopen about six weeks later on May 4.

The books are on shelves from Lincoln Moving & Storage of Buffalo.

While Lee-Whedon is closed, library users can access digital materials through hoopla, Libby, Mango and Freegalmusic.

Lee-Whedon members also can use their card at other Nioga libraries. The closest ones are Yates Community Library, Hoag Library in Albion, and Royalton-Hartland Library in Middleport.

Lee-Whedon broke ground last Aug. 22 for a 4,785-square-foot addition on the back of the current library, which is 11,100 square feet.

The addition will create space for two meeting rooms, two tutoring rooms, a programming room with makerspace, Friends of the Library book sale room, a quiet research room, an art gallery, a teen room and 14 parking spots.

There will also be additional restrooms, a new circulation desk, a new entry portico with automatic sliding doors, about a 10 percent increase in the collection and upgraded technology.

The state is contributing nearly $1.7 million in New York State Public Library Construction Aid grants to the $5.2 million project. The community also has donated more than $500,000 to the expansion.