Freehold Public Library: ‘Not just about the book’

The Freehold Public Library at 28 ½ East Main Street just reopened after 22 months of renovations. 

While library services never stopped and were running at the Freehold Borough Municipal Building, the space on East Main Street was out of commission.

Now that the newly renovated library is open, Library director Kathy Mulholland cannot contain her excitement. She has worked at the library for 18 years and was a patron of the library when her kids were growing up in the 1980s. She came in as a senior library assistant, which functioned as a children’s librarian. 

Mulholland received her master’s degree in library science in 2013 and when the library director retired, she applied for the position.

She began her new role in 2019.

“I had about a year of learning the role before COVID,” Mulholland said, adding often she still feels like a new hire because of all the changes since COVID and the major renovation. 

“It’s a lot of positive direction,” she said of the changes. “… It’s almost like putting in a brand new library, in terms of building our constituency back and learning a whole new generation of children.

“We have had all our kids from our children’s programs move on. We had a teen group, which was a 4-H club. Those [groups] are adults now having their own families so we are really starting over.”

The Freehold Public Library was built in 1903 and opened in 1904. The structure is of the neoclassical style popular for public/government buildings of the day.  

“In terms of community, this is a Carnegie library, one of 44 that have been built in New Jersey,” Mulholland explained. “Organized primarily by a group of women from the Baptist church, in towns (or missionaries) called Kings daughters, they were kind of the driving force. People involved got the money [for the library] by writing a letter to [industrialist] Andrew Carnegie. He gave the money to get the renovation, construction of the building.”

All of this happened rather quickly considering no machinery in those days, Mulholland said. A library board of trustees was formed and an election was held when Freehold borough and township were one town.  

The borough bought the land that the library is on from a woman identified as widowed Doty.

“Even back then the address on the street was 28 ½ East Main Street – it’s really awful for GPS purposes – but has been the address before any of us knew anything,” Mulholland said. 

“Our building looks like it’s set back, but really in many cases many of the businesses moved forward towards the street. We have this nice little plaza in front.”

The library did not have any major renovations for the exception of the 1980s when the library director saw some renovation/redecorating downstairs for a children’s space. 

“Children’s rooms in libraries were not a given in the early 1900s,” Mulholland said. 

“With this renovation we reclaimed the last bit of storage space really for public space and now have a teen room. We are almost on a zero-storage model … we are about the people not the stuff.”

The renovations were funded in part – $889,000 funded by state – as part of New Jersey Library Construction Bond Act, which the library received in December 2020. The municipality had to match the fund. The entire project was approximately $2.24 million. 

“We had a lot of support to make this library a stronger asset,” Mulholland said. 

Renovations:

• Everything except for the elevator is done. 

• There is a handicap accessible ramp/stairway leading up to a terrace and a brand-new rear entrance. 

• A conference room and study room space, which used to be staff offices. Now the offices are in as centralized location. 

• All new wiring throughout the building.

• All new lighting and painting throughout the building.

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) bathrooms with changing table.

• Expansion of adult fiction collection.

• Electrical outlets on floors and tables.

• Removal of 1980s paneling from the middle of the building that went up the stairwell and the entire children’s room. The foundational brick has been sealed.

“The brick was never really meant to be seen … it’s pretty cool to see,” Mulholland said, also explaining the downstairs area was a hodgepodge of bump outs and uneven flooring. Now all that is smoothed out.

• HVAC moved to the attic.

• Addition of teen room.

• Improvements to the front of library with extended stoop, railing and lighting.

Opportunities are endless with the renovations that have improved accessibility and created more public space while maintaining the building’s “Classic Carnegie Library” look and feel.

“To say we want to be the favorite place for everybody in town, that takes on meaning beyond our walls with our digital projects and outreach,” Mulholland said. “We need to do a lot of rebuilding. I had the year under my belt as director where we really expanded a lot of things. Our circulation numbers increased and that’s kind of an old school metric for a library’s success that doesn’t hold true anymore because it’s not just about the book.

“Books are core, but they don’t tell the whole story. We want to be kind of a library that changes people’s lives, changes constituent lives for the better. We want to defend access to information, [provide] quality resources. We want to be a safe space for them, [and to] support our local businesses. 

“We want to be what we’re supposed to be – everything to everybody.” 

The Freehold Public Library is celebrating 120 years this year with a celebration from 2-6 p.m. on Dec. 14. — 07728

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