Belmont Public Library, Belmont, Massachusetts
Belmont was one of the first libraries we visited when Library Land started. We’d already been to Wellesley, Waltham, Newton, Natick, and a handful of others. We had high hopes for Belmont. It’s an affluent community, well-educated, with great amenities, and so close to Cambridge and Somerville. Let us say we were underwhelmed by that first visit and leave it at that.
Fast forward eight years (EIGHT YEARS!?) and - wow - what an amazing transformation! The Belmont Public Library has really turned up the awesome. This town of 26,000 people finally has a library they can brag about! Designed by Oudens-Ello, there’s a lot for people to enjoy at the new library, and we’re excited to tell you about it.
We’d met Elise, the head of reference, when she came to the Wellesley Free Library for training back in 2024, and stayed in touch. In late 2025, she let us know the new library would be opening soon and asked if we’d like to visit. Librarians, you don’t need to ask us twice; if you’d like to show us your library, please let us know!
We arrived on a Friday afternoon and first chatted with Elise, and then with Lauren, the assistant director. Lauren would be our guide for a tour of this marvelous library.
Libraries like this one come at a cost, obviously. In this case, it was all from the community. A successful campaign was mounted to garner support for a debt exclusion. A foundation, created specifically for building the new library, merged into the Friends when its mission was accomplished. It’s really great to see this kind of community energy delivering such great results!
Foresight and luck played a role in controlling some costs. For example, all of the furniture was purchased before the tariffs went into effect. Creativity also came into play, with the library selling naming rights to different spaces.
The library is filled with sunshine. As is true of so many Oudens-Ello libraries, natural lighting plays a critical part. A “clear story,” and lots of glass make this a really bright and beautiful space. The use of light wood throughout the library contributes to the feeling. The high angular ceiling also helps make the space feel open and airy.
The main adult collection is located on the second floor. The stacks are short, providing clear views of the entire space. There are plenty of work areas. A handful of dedicated closed-door study rooms, lots of tables, and a workbar that overlooks the stairs and first floor. It’s a nice view. The stairs are a stand-out feature of this library, and we’ll talk about them more below.
It’s also a surprisingly quiet library. As we walked into the teen room, Lauren let us know the library uses active sound dampening. This is the first time we’ve seen this in a library, and we were impressed. Don’t ask us how it works; we assume it is magic. The teen space is large and appealing, and includes game consoles, cute study cubbies, lots of seating, and good sightlines from the desk. It also features a glass corner, providing a clear view of classmates as they walk from the nearby high school.
The teen room is the first of four special spaces along that side of the building. The next is the Community Classroom. This is a large multipurpose room that’s intended as a flex space. The intent is to use it for crafts, fibre arts, general education, etc. It has nice technology to accommodate these various uses. Oh, and there’s also a seed library in there.
The next special space is the Belmont Media Center. This is the town’s public media group. They record and produce all kinds of content for the community. From Town Meetings, to candidate forums, to library programs, Belmont Town Media is integral to keeping the community informed. Having it in the library makes a ton of sense.
The next two rooms are related. One is the local history room. This has a large table surrounded by comfortable chairs. The perimeter of the room features locked shelves of important documents and other items. One of the most interesting is the Jay Benton collection, which includes daily entries and ephemera spanning decades.
Right next door is a room set aside for the Belmont Historical Society. It has a different vibe than other areas of the library. There are resources and artifacts related to the history of the town, a large meeting table, comfy chairs, and an interesting map of the town. We enjoyed checking out this space.
Between the local history room and the Belmont Historical Society is a mysterious marble bust. No one is sure who it represents, where it came from, or what its provenance might be. It’s classicalish, so it was decided it would reside right there. If you recognize him, please let us know.
We were really impressed by how much the library has done to work with other community groups and organizations. We really appreciate it when libraries take a mosaic approach to working with partners. Many libraries do it well, but Belmont does an especially nice job.
Along the southeastern side of the library is a reading porch. This is also something we’ve seen at several Oudens-Ello libraries, and we love it every time. Lauren pointed out the “golden bowl,” which like Golden Pond, is <s>an almost dreamy and romantic vista</s>. It is town property, and the town is working on resodding it to make it into a usable public space.
Periodicals are next to the porch, with lots of soft seating. Also in this area is a quiet reading room that features the library’s audiobook collection, as well as world languages. Interestingly, the largest part of this collection is Chinese language resources, which reflects the needs of the community.
As we headed down the aforementioned stairs, Lauren pointed out the stadium-style seating. This is part of the nice social space of the lobby. Not only are there the stairs, but there are also tables and chairs at their base. Accessibility is something we keep our eyes open for, and at Belmont, there was a lot to feast our eyes upon. Lauren showed us a notch that could be accessed by reconfiguring a section of the stadium seating to make room for a wheelchair. We loved the idea of creating an inclusive space, rather than one that was simply accessible.
Looking around the rest of the lobby, we found plenty of soft seating, the library’s new items, thematic displays, DVDs, lockers for Library of Things items, the hold shelves, and the circulation desk. It felt like a very effective use of space - and one that encouraged people to congregate and connect. All of the shelves in this area are on wheels, which increases the lobby’s flexibility.
The largest portion of this floor was dedicated to the children’s section. Ensconced behind glass to minimize noise, this area was totally lovely. The first thing we saw as we entered was Ginger the Giraffe. It was super cute and much beloved. We also came across a giant gorilla and a frog.
Some of the other features are public computers, soft seating, cute cutouts between shelves, and a comfort room. There’s also a fish tank, which is always a hit with the kids. In a nod to the old library, several pieces of stained glass adorn a glass wall between children’s and the kids' programming room. We always like to see this kind of continuity between spaces.
The other major space on the first floor is Morrissey Hall. This multipurpose space can seat up to 150 people and is available for after-hours use. This is something we love to see, and we’ve seen a lot of different implementations.
Just when we thought we’d seen everything on this floor, we stepped into a short hallway. This led to the after-hours entrance and the Wall for All. Rather than create a hierarchical display of donors, the Wall for All includes everyone who supported the new library. The names are displayed on pieces of colored glass, a nod to the brook we would soon see outside. The effect was quite nice.
Also off this hallway was the Waverly Oaks room. This is a meeting/programming space that was organized by the Belmont Land Trust. This room is also available after hours. It features information on the area’s natural environment, and it overlooks the library’s outdoor space. Lovely.
Exiting the building, we first found ourselves in the large (40-car) parking lot. There’s also street parking available right on Concord Avenue, in front of the library. Walking to the rear of the building, Lauren pointed out some large granite slabs that were being used as benches and barriers. She explained that they had been used as stairs at the old library and had been repurposed for the new.
The outdoor space is impressive and beautiful. The building features a green roof, one of only two accessible nature trails at public libraries (the other is at the Lawrence Library in Pepperill), several seating areas, and a statue of a child reading. It all contributes to the feeling of completeness for this library.
The outdoor space is impressive and beautiful. The building features a green roof, one of only two accessible nature trails at public libraries (the other is at the Lawrence Library in Pepperill), several seating areas, and a statue of a child reading. It all contributes to the feeling of completeness for this library.
As we were wrapping up in the fading Spring sun, we thanked Lauren for her generosity and reflected on what we’d learned. All of the pieces hang together so well that the library is greater than the sum of its parts. We came away so impressed and so happy for the library and the community that will enjoy it for decades to come.