BERLIN – Officials with the Worcester County Library will host an open house at the Berlin branch later this month to gage public interest in utilizing its performance space.
On Feb. 28, the public is invited to an open house at the Berlin library to view its community room, located on the second floor. The event is expected to give people an opportunity to see how the space can be used for music, dance, theater and other performances.
“We’ll have the stage lights on, we have two smaller stages that we’ll put out and we’ll have [someone] come out and play so they can hear the sound of the room,” Library Director Jennifer Ranck said.
The open house comes months after the Worcester County Library Foundation first presented the Worcester County Library Board of Trustees with an opportunity to install a retractable seating system in the room.
While the foundation’s donation is expected to increase the room’s seating capacity and provide a better viewing experience for those attending performances, members of the board questioned if demand from the community warranted the $47,000 purchase.
“There’s this talk about risers and whether we should buy them or not,” Library Director Jennifer Ranck said. “We want to gage what kind of interest we have.”
To that end, the board has tasked foundation President Howard Sribnick with gathering input from the community at the open house.
“He’s created a little survey for everybody to fill out,” she said, “to see what they think of the room.”
The open house will take place on Feb. 28 from 4-6 p.m. in the Dr. Mary E. Humphreys Community Room of the Berlin library.
Though not required, officials encourage those interested in attending to RSVP by calling 410-641-0650.
