Kingston Community Library
Outdoor Community Center
To support our mission, the Outdoor Community Center that will enhance the library’s role as Kingston’s educational, recreational, and meeting hub. The Center will support instructive programs and activities for the community, and will provide a landscape design that encourages social interaction for all age groups and abilities. The space will include: expanded parking, handicap accessible grounds and trails, children's play and education area, adult recreation area, Sensory garden, Pavilion, seating areas, meditation garden. (The above 3D renderings show the vision for this space.)
To make a donation toward the construction of our planned space, please visit our Foundation page. Contact the library director for more information.
Why are we doing this project?
In Spring 2022, KCL celebrated its 10th anniversary with a new logo and the motto “Imagine EVEN More.” The proposed project continues the 2012 vision to offer more services in our rural town. The addition of an Outdoor Educational Center will provide further opportunities through a planned, sustainable, freely accessible, local, natural area for people of all ages to learn, relax, and play. The project will preserve the character of the space and will more clearly connect the library’s building, programs, and services to its unique outdoor setting.
KCL serves as the main community meeting space in Kingston and is the largest provider of free programs for children and seniors in the area. The library hosts at least 20 local groups per month in its meeting rooms, amounting to approximately 45 hours of meetings each week, and typically bringing in 5 to 15 individuals per group. Groups make reservations to use space, and most meet here regularly. Additionally, librarians run over 50 programs with approximately 600 attendees. They support approximately 3,000 library visitors each month who use the building for meetings and programs, but also to use collections, computers, fax, copier and more.
Kingston does not have a formal senior center, but the library offers many of the same things a senior center would; Some of our senior residents use our facilities daily for socialization, recreation and education. The library is also heavily used by young parents and their children, who attend storytimes, crafting events, movies, and playtimes. Businessmen frequent the library seeking space to plug in laptops. Those searching for jobs use desktops provided here. Walking through the library each day, one may also encounter couples playing games, teens doing their homework, tutors, students, volunteers, and others.
Kingston Community Library set out to determine the needs of the community using two surveys: The Aging Communities Survey conducted with the help of the Rockingham Planning Commission and the Outdoor Spaces survey conducted with the help of landscape architect Wright Pierce.
KCL conducted two surveys in 2023 to assess community need. First, “The Age Friendly Communities Survey” was led by the library in collaboration with the Kingston Planning Department, Kingston Human Resources Department and the Kingston Recreation Department. The survey was conducted by the Rockingham Planning Commission, which adapted it from a national model developed by AARP to evaluate the needs of seniors. Second, the “KCL Outdoor Spaces Survey” was conducted with assistance from the Landscape Architectural firm Wright Pierce. The goal of this survey was to evaluate the specific need for outdoor educational, recreational, and gathering spaces in Kingston for people of all ages. In addition to the surveys, the library hosted more than six ongoing forums to engage the community with our ideas for an outdoor educational center and for senior services.
The preliminary survey and forums indicated that natural beauty, open space, and access to recreation are among top reasons that seniors want to stay in in Kingston. Seniors also called for expanded recreational activities for older adults. Follow up forums and the outdoor survey confirmed local interest in planned outdoor facilities in Kingston.
This project is positioned to have significant impact on diverse age groups in the community, providing multi-use, handicap accessible recreational and educational spaces for programming and individual exploration, and fits within Kingston’s Master Plan (2007) “To ensure that adequate public services are provided consistent with the long term interests of the town”; “To encourage diverse recreational opportunities within Kingston” ; “Encourage public engagement with Kingston’s history through educational programming,” which includes utilizing “the Library as a resource for children and adults.”