Learning Center opens at East Providence's former Fuller Branch

Will remain under auspices of Library Department

By Mike Rego
Posted 6/23/16

EAST PROVIDENCE — Four years removed from being closed and about a year since it was taken off the sale market, the Fuller Library building on Dover Avenue in the Kent Heights section of the city …

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Learning Center opens at East Providence's former Fuller Branch

Will remain under auspices of Library Department

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — Four years removed from being closed and about a year since it was taken off the sale market, the Fuller Library building on Dover Avenue in the Kent Heights section of the city will certainly be a buzz with activity Saturday, June 25, when residents can get a preview of the planned Creative Learning Center that will soon occupy the premises.

East Providence Libraries Director Eileen Socha termed the event, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., as a "sneak peak" at what to expect from the center. The celebration is being billed as a "How-To Festival, a cooperative learning experience teaching practical hands-on skills in short sessions."

Among the activities planned and vendors scheduled to attend are the following: Del’s Lemonade, food trucks and musical entertainment, cooking, car seat safety check, using chopsticks, quilting, line dancing, 3D printing, yoga for kids, math Origami, make butter, belly dancing, make a bird feeder, visit a fire truck, origami flowers, learn to "tweet," financial literacy and more.

For Director Socha, Saturday's beginnings are a far cry from where she and her department were in 2012, when the state-appointed Budget Commission then in charge of East Providence's finances decided to shutter both the Fuller and Rumford branches. Rumford was sold to a private party and turned into a home. Fuller, however, sat idle while being put up for sale. Despite some alleged interest from the state firefighters union and the Rhode Island Golf Association among other groups, nothing came to pass, allowing the learning center idea to take root.

"Well, it's never a good thing when we close a library, bottom line," the director said at the Fuller site earlier this week. "But our city is also small, with under 50,000 people so there was a lot of redundancy with keeping four libraries open as well. But, again, it's never a good thing to close a library. So when the opportunity arose when the city sold the Rumford branch and the city administration didn't to see this one sold as well, they asked if there was something we could do with the building itself."

Taking the proverbial bull by the horns, Director Socha and her staff got to work. They investigated the subject thoroughly, settling on the collaborative learning model which has become more and more prevalent across the country in recent years.

"The idea of opening it as a lending library just didn't seem like the right thing to do because we have a good lending library in Riverside and a great one in Weaver," Director Socha explained. "So this is the national trend in libraries, to do 'maker' spaces and offer extended learning. We looked into opening a learning center. There's lots of information available and we also had lots of ideas. And the council was in favor of it, which helped."

About this time last year, the City Council and then City Manager Paul Lemont expressed their support in the form of pledging some $120,000 towards the project in the current Fiscal Year 2015-16 budget. That money in addition to Champlain Foundation grant dollars allowed the Fuller effort to get off the ground.

"We have to thank the council for funding to retrofit of the building and the Building Department has been tremendous in helping us," Director Socha said. "And we've received a lot of support from the community. People in East Providence love their libraries."

The director is hoping patrons will love the offerings expected to be available, which she said espoused the library's mantra of "a lifetime of learning, from children to seniors."

Technology, and access to it, will be at the heart of the center where among other things a recording studio and a teaching kitchen will be available to the public. The director said the large main room is "open and flexible." It along with a side area will each have a projector and large screen.

As Director Socha indicated, Saturday's presentation is a "one-off" to start. Staffing the center is a priority. The application process for a coordinator has been completed. The interview process to begin shortly. Hire a coordinator will follow then staff will be brought on as funding and interest are warranted. Once everything is in place, Director Socha said a schedule of operating days and hours will be made.

When the center is fully operational, the director said she expects the programs available will come from a collaborative effort between library personnel and patrons. She said she expects the public and personnel to engage in free-flowing conversation of ideas.

"We see this as a growing organism," Director Socha added. "We're coming from the point of view that the possibilities are endless."

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Mike Rego

Mike Rego has worked at East Bay Newspapers since 2001, helping the company launch The Westport Shorelines. He soon after became a Sports Editor, spending the next 10-plus years in that role before taking over as editor of The East Providence Post in February of 2012. To contact Mike about The Post or to submit information, suggest story ideas or photo opportunities, etc. in East Providence, email mrego@eastbaymediagroup.com.