ROCKPORT —Rockport seems to want a traditional library, both in look – it should be similar in appearance to the buildings surrounding it – and in mission: To lend books, have librarian assistance available, and offer a children’s area. And, many residents agree, having one’s own town library is important to the community, overall.

Where to build a new one, however, remains a bone of contention, and the town remains split between favoring 1 Limerock Street, at the existing library location, and the former Rockport Elementary School site, on West Street.

“I don’t think I’ve seen two different items rated on a scale that have had the response as this,” said Bruce Lockwood, president of Portland Research Group, the marketing firm that was hired by Rockport to gather resident and business owner opinion about the Rockport Public Library.  “It’s incredible.” 

Lockwood was presenting the findings from the survey Rockport commissioned to better understand public sentiment about the purpose of a library, whether and where to build a new one, how much to spend, and what it might look like. 

Lockwood stood before the Rockport Select Board and approximately 20 citizens Monday evening, Nov. 6, to present survey data, as well as his conclusions and recommendations. 

(See attached PDFs for the complete survey report and executive summary)

Elsewhere, 39 more citizens were tuning in via their computers, using the town’s livestream capabilities to watch the board workshop.

No decisions were made during the 90-minute meeting, and Rockport Select Board Chairman Ken McKinley said the board will likely take up the matter of the library’s future once again when the board convenes Nov. 13 for a regularly scheduled meeting.

Lockwood spent almost an hour moving through a PowerPoint presentation about the survey data and findings, at times explaining the finer points of statistical analysis. He said:

•  1,019 responded to the survey, representing a 35.82 percent response rate. 

• Of those, 569 females and 468 males responded to the 23 questions. (There were approximately 10 returned useless surveys, said Lockwood, onto which some residents has scrawled inappropriate remarks, or said the survey was a “waste of money.”)

• The general trend reflected from the responses is that Rockport is willing to fund at least $1 million to less than $2 million of a library project, with a total investment of at least $2 million to less than $3 million.

• Many in Rockport want a new library to look similar to the buildings around it.  

• As has been apparent since the town first started talking about constructing a new library, the site remains under debate. Forty seven percent of those responding to a the library survey prefer the former Rockport Elementary School parcel on West Street while 45 percent prefer the existing library site, at 1 Limerock Street. 

The survey had been commissioned by the Select Board in June and the town agreed to spend $9,850, plus or minus 10 percent, on the survey. The decision to ask Rockport residents their opinion about building a new library, its design and for how much, was made following a long board process. Last winter, after the Select Board assumed leadership of the new library project, there was a brief discussion about polling Rockport citizens to help determine why a $2 million proposal for a $4 million new library failed at the Nov. 8, 2016 polls by just nine votes.

But, the board decided against conducting a survey, only to reconsider it later in the spring. In May, the Select Board directed Town Manager Rick Bates to frame the survey parameters, and in the RFP, the town said it wanted “to understand exactly what details the majority of Rockport residents would agree to for a new proposal to resolve the current issues with the Rockport Public Library.”

Conclusions and recommendations

According to Lockwood:

Rockport should continue to try to find a viable option for supporting the Rockport Public Library since most people: