HARDWICK – The library is open. The biggest story this year is that the expansion of the Jeudevine Memorial Library was completed. The new building opened to the public on Monday, July 7, 2025.
From the first day, with a crowd waiting outside to come in, through the change in season to winter, the new library has been full. People of all ages come in to work, pick up books, movies, and magazines, attend programs or just hang out.
The meeting spaces have been consistently booked and are being used during the day, in the evenings and on weekends.
With the first half of 2025 spent in construction and the second half with the new building open, the library went from an average of 680 people per month to 1,200.
As of early December 2025, more than 10,000 people came through the doors this year.
The library has circulated more than 13,000 items, and over 1,600 people have attended library programs.
The two new meeting rooms have been well-used for library programs and by other organizations and individuals.
The Jeudevine hosted 75 programs for the library, Hardwick Neighbor to Neighbor and the Town of Hardwick. It was booked an additional 68 times for classes and gatherings, including tai chi, quilting, tutoring, online classes, tele-health meetings and a birthday party.
Library programs included many for children, such as chorus, the Jeudevine Players, baking afternoons, a vacation-week movie and story-times.
Programs for adults included readings by Vermont authors, a storytelling event, a sit-down dinner hosted by the Neighbors group and educational programs on topics such as bats and advance directives.
The library is managed with a staff of three, two part-time, one full-time, and a volunteer crew that includes patrons, Friends of the Jeudevine and the board of trustees. Volunteers who came in to help with re-shelving books and movies, preparing books for cataloging, light cleaning, and shelf-reading, also moved many books into the new building and contributed over 200 hours to help the library run smoothly.
Although the bulk of the budget comes from the town, the library receives support from other sources.
The newly-revitalized Friends of the Jeudevine, has done a great job of fundraising this year. As they have in the past, they covered the full cost of programming for children and adults. The Friends helped purchase furniture for the new building, including a second book truck and a changing table, as well as two new staff computers, a comfortable chair for the children’s room and eight new folding tables for the Parker Ladd Community Room.
Book-buying support this year included donations from Merry Gangemi and in memory of Pamela Blumgart, Sharon Fradette, Linda Kinney and Beverly Pape.
The library received a $5,000 grant to hire a consultant to develop a strategic plan to serve as a road map going forward, now that the addition is complete.
The library continues to serve as a communication hub for Hardwick Neighbor to Neighbor. It tracks emails and phone calls from people seeking help, dispatch requests to a volunteer coordinator, and assist with the logistics of matching volunteers with those who need them.
Library staff manage the money the Salvation Army sends to this area to help people with emergency gas and grocery vouchers. This year, $2,000 was distributed to community members.
Many helped shepherd the library addition to completion with their time, money or goodwill, but most especially Kevin Hill and Rachel Funk and the library staff.
The Jeudevine Memorial Library has been a community space in Hardwick since its construction in 1896.
Diane Grenkow is the Jeudevine Memorial Library Director.
