Councillor: Medford Public Library in ‘Desperate Need of a Reboot’

City Councillor Robert Penta said Tuesday that Medford Public Library just simply isn’t cutting it.

“It’s in desperate need of a reboot,” he said at the City Council meeting.

Penta said since the new building opened in 1954, full- and part-time staff has been cut, the library’s Saturday hours have been eliminated and all of the city’s other branch libraries have been closed.

He said the building has not received any upgrades, other than emergency fixes, since it opened. “If they didn’t have the Friends of the Library, I don’t know where they’d be,” he said.

Penta also said the library’s bathrooms still need to be refurbished.

Senior Citizens Going to Arlington, Winchester

City Councillor Richard Caraviello added that he’s heard from seniors in the community that they’re going to libraries in Arlington and Winchester because of the state of Medford’s library building and its lack of resources.

City Councillor Michael Marks said Mayor Michael McGlynn’s focus should be on issues like the library and not on a new $8 million parking garage for Medford Square.

On a positive note, City Councillor Paul Camuso said there is a new children’s librarian at the library who seems to be quite popular with kids and their parents.

The council passed a resolution requesting Library Director Brian Boutilier meet with them at a future meeting.