On Thursday, November 19, at 6 p.m., the architect and construction team behind the Griffin Free Public Library expansion will take questions from the public. The meeting is in the Auburn Village School cafeteria, not at the library on Hooksett Road. The library has been moving events to the school for a while now. In an essay on the library's website, director Dan Szczesny wrote that book events regularly draw 40 to 80 or more people, which is more than the library's small event room can safely hold, so "more and more events now have to be moved to AVS."
The redesigned plan would not bring those large events home. In March 2026, Auburn voters rejected a $7.2 million expansion warrant article. The version heading to the 2027 ballot costs about $4.9 million. To get there, the trustees cut the big gathering space and kept nearly everything for children and teens.
What came off the drawings
The trustees showed the Board of Selectmen the revised design on August 3, 2026. According to the Selectmen's minutes, it is 2,600 square feet smaller than the March plan, at 7,380 square feet in total. That figure includes the existing building, which is about 2,000 square feet, so the new addition is roughly 5,000 square feet. The $4.9 million covers renovating the old building too. At their own August meeting, the trustees described the new design as about two-thirds the size of the original and noted that "meeting space for 100 ppl is gone."
| March 2026 plan | Plan heading to 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $7.2 million article; the September 10, 2025 estimate came to $7,190,640 | About $4.9 million, including renovation of the existing building |
| Total size | About 9,900 square feet of library and community space | About 7,380 square feet, with roughly 5,000 of it new |
| Largest gathering room | A Community Center for about 100 people, with its own entrance and restrooms | A meeting room for up to 50 inside the original building |
| Children and teens | Bigger youth area, storytime space, dedicated teen space | Larger children's area and a dedicated teen room |
| Founder's museum | Front room returned to a museum | Front room returned to a museum |
When the library made its case for the March plan, the director's expansion essay called the Community Center "the crown jewel of the expansion." It was meant to stay open for meetings even when the library was closed, for groups like the Massabesic Garden Club, Scouts, and Rotary, and for banquets and swaps. That room is gone. In the new plan, the existing building becomes the meeting space. The books move into the new addition, and a hallway with a glass vestibule, which serves as the new entrance, connects the two buildings. The site plan in the minutes also shows 26 parking spaces and a patio with a retaining wall.
What survived the cut, and why
The space for children and teens made it through, and the library's numbers show why. The library's October 2026 brochure says patron usage is up 60% since 2022. Children's and young adult circulation alone rose nearly 50% in two years, and those young readers now account for about 65% of everything the library lends. All of it happens "in a space no bigger than a master bedroom." The director ties the jump in youth circulation to the full-time children's librarian position the library created in early 2023.
The brochure lists what the addition would bring:
- A dedicated teen room
- A larger children's area
- More workspace for the growing circulation
- Several smaller dedicated conference rooms
The museum stayed in as well. Sebastian Griffin donated his collection of artifacts when the library was chartered in 1893. In his collection room at the front of the building, the plan would bring stored pieces back out, including Native American artifacts and naturalist items. The library's expansion hub says the building went up in 1885, was deeded to the town in 1893, got two additions in 1895 to meet Griffin's terms, and got a third addition in 2004 that local volunteers built. According to the brochure, that 2004–05 addition is what first gave the library plumbing and a bathroom.
Where the biggest events still land
The new meeting room in the old building holds up to 50 people, according to the brochure. The library's own count puts book events at 40 to 80 or more people. A 50-person room covers the lower end of that range and would handle more than the current front room, which the brochure calls "no longer safe, comfortable, or practical" for events. The biggest nights would still go to a room like the AVS cafeteria, where the November 19 open house is being held.
The trustees already walked through this at the August Selectmen meeting. One selectman asked about future growth, and the trustees said a one-story building was preferable because of weight and elevator requirements. They also showed where a future expansion could go on the site. The 2027 plan was drawn with room to grow later.
How the project got to a second vote
- Since the 1980s: The library is recognized as not keeping pace with the town's needs.
- 2004–05: A small addition brings plumbing and a bathroom.
- Around 2017–18: A group of town families buys the land behind the library and donates it to the town for library use. That land is now Pavilion Park.
- 2021: A consultant concludes the library is too small to serve its population. The director has written that, per capita, it is "dramatically the smallest in the state."
- 2022 and 2025: Voters fund the architect and construction team, the plans, the survey, and water table testing. The 2025 article was for $100,000.
- March 2026: The $7.2 million expansion article is rejected.
- August 3, 2026: Selectmen unanimously approve paying the design firm SMP $24,925 out of the library expansion and community center capital reserve fund to refine the space needs and work toward a cost-effective design. The minutes note $75,000 left from the warrant article.
- September 28, 2026: The town administrator's early outline of the FY 2027 budget lists "the library proposal" among the expected warrant articles.
The brochure estimates about two years from passage of a warrant to a finished building. It also says a "significant grants and donations campaign is underway to offset costs."
The questions already on the table
The Selectmen's discussion in August gives a good idea of what will likely come up on November 19. According to the minutes, board members asked for:
- A breakdown of the renovation costs for the existing building
- An explanation of the plan's two boilers, which one member pointed out would mean maintaining two systems
- Details on site plan work and septic
- Confirmation that the price covers electricity and plumbing
- Placeholders for repairs to the old building, so the town isn't asked for maintenance money five to 10 years from now
The trustees answered that furniture, fixtures, and equipment would be paid for with grants and donations, and that fundraising is ongoing. Asked what number the board would be comfortable with, one selectman said the board needed a more precise scope first.
The old building's upkeep is already on the board's agenda in the meantime. On September 28, the Selectmen reviewed an estimate from BPS to replace the children's room door and the work around it, decided they could not approve that high a number, and asked for a quote from a second contractor. Repairs to the original foundation and the children's room doorway have been part of the library's argument for expanding since its 2024 FAQ.
Before and after the open house
The current building is still busy in the meantime. On Wednesday, December 2, from 6 to 8 p.m., the library is holding Holiday Wreath Making. On Saturday, December 5, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., it hosts a Holiday Decor Swap. Story times, a crochet and knitting group, and junk journaling also fill that first week of December on the library's events calendar. You can reach the director with questions about the plan at [email protected], or find the full brochure on the library's expansion page. For more on what's happening around town, see the Auburn neighborhood page or our earlier piece on the three trail systems around Lake Massabesic.
Town projects like this one come up all the time when people ask me about life in Auburn, and I like being able to give them a straight answer. If you want to talk through what's changing in town, or anything else on your mind about home here, Sonia Bramhall is glad to help. Let's Connect.
