01940 Winter 2022

WINTER 2022 | 23
things. And, you know, storytime is always
loud. It's great.”
Before her appointment to the role of
library director in June, Porter, who earned
a master’s degree in library sciences and
children’s literature at Simmons University,
spent a year as acting library director
in the wake of former Library Director
Jennifer Inglis’ resignation last August.
After a committee searched for Inglis’
permanent replacement, Porter ended up
assuming the role. As permanent director,
she said that she hopes to expand accessibility
and service to the community, part
of which includes a string of initiatives,
from electronic readers, to captioning for
online meetings.
“We purchased some imaging equipment
that will allow people to enlarge
whatever they need to look at,” Porter
said. “We're working on making sure
that captioning is on for all of our virtual
events, not that we're having too many of
those anymore. Obviously, we're Americans
with Disabilities Act compliant, but
we’re always thinking about becoming
more dementia friendly, and more sensory
friendly for anybody with those issues.
We’re just making sure that the library is
for everybody, as it's supposed to be.”
Porter took over as director while the
library was in the midst of planning a
relocation. The Lynnfield Public Library
plans to secure, within the year, $8 million
in grants from the state Board of Library
Commissioners to build a new library.
Porter said that the prospective site will
be located at Reedy Meadows, where
members can enjoy more sunlight and
outdoor space during events and community
gatherings.
“This building hasn't been updated
since 1967. So there's a lot of issues that
are happening with it, you know, leaks
and all of those kinds of things. More
than that, we don't have the parking, we
don't have the space for people, especially
during the pandemic, we were realizing
all of the things we could have been doing
if we had a meeting room, or if we had
more outside space,” Porter said. “People
are still using libraries for a lot of other
things, even just study space, and we don't
have space for storytime right now. We're
always borrowing from the meeting house
and they're busy. It's hard to fight for that
space.”
During the pandemic’s height, when
businesses and organizations nationwide
struggled to bring in new faces, Porter
said that the library saw a massive
PORTER, continued on page 24
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