AMHERST — A sense of community and belonging at the Jones Library and the lasting memories at the building are as important to Emily Wang and her family as the books they regularly access there.

Moving to Amherst eight years ago to teach at the University of Massachusetts, Wang said she found a place where her son, Michael Bauner, now 8, remembers playing with a steering wheel attached to the bookshelves and delighted in finding hidden gnomes.

“I really enjoyed reading the books,” Michael said.

“Each week we would get a whole layer of books and schlep them home, and then we would go back the next week for another layer of books, and schlep them home,” Wang said. “There was always something new.”

But generational, too, as Wang’s mother, Ying Liu, has used an English as a Second Language program to gain new roots in the community.

“The Jones has been such a game-changer for her,” Wang said. “She was almost trapped at home, I worried a bit about her happiness, but this opened her eyes to other culture and it’s amazing to see her so excited.”

Wang’s family was on hand Wednesday morning to celebrate the start of the $46.1 million expansion and renovation of the 43 Amity St. building that opened in 1928, with an addition put on in the 1990s. Fontaine Brothers Inc. of Springfield is handling the project that will enlarge the building from 48,000 square feet to 63,000 square feet over the course of the next 18 months, with the library expected to reopen sometime in 2027.

At that time, the children’s and special collections facilities will be expanded and renovated and there will be dedicated space for ESL and teens.

Citizenship classes and training in English are among the elements that showcase how noncitizen residents are provided a welcoming environment that will only improve in the future, said Jones Trustees President Austin Sarat. “They will always have a place in the Jones Library,” Sarat said.

Sarat was emcee for the ceremony that was mostly moved into the building’s atrium due to showers on a mild, muggy morning. Those on hand, though, still had opportunity to use ceremonial shovels and hard helmets to dig into a pile of dirt on the front lawn.

Sarat said that the library, from its original construction almost 100 years ago, rebelled against norms and was intentionally built as “un-Carnegie-like” building. He also read a poem titled “A Very Sad Library” about the building with excessive leaks and stairs, but that the end product will be “quite rad.”

“Great communities deserve great libraries,” said U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, who secured a $1.1 million earmark for the project.

He is also working to increase funding for libraries and to overturn the Trump administration’s effort to end the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences.

“We are in a battle to save our democracy right now, and this is why this means so much,” McGovern said.

Some of the observers on hand noted that had Amherst not changed its charter in 2018, adopting a Town Council form of government to replace Town Meeting, the library project may have languished. Even with support from councilors, some in town registered objections to the size and scale of the project and the possible impact on the historic integrity of the building.

Sarat was gracious to those residents, noting that democracy is messy and the library being renovated and expanded will be for all, including those who oppose this vision.

“I want to acknowledge all of those who had a different vision for the future of the Jones,” Sarat said.

The lengthy time spent on the project included a townwide referendum vote and multiple votes by the Town Council, as well as reviews by numerous local boards and committees.

“To get here, we’ve done more than just dodge raindrops,” said Council President Lynn Griesemer.

Revolutionary journey

In emotional off-the-cuff remarks, Kent Faerber, who has co-chaired the capital campaign, said the library project dispels the myth that nothing ever happens in Amherst and that its residents aren’t generous.

“It’s been a journey that, in my view, is revolutionary,” Faerber said, adding that the fundraising has reinforced his conviction that Amherst is exceptional in being dedicated to books, life of the mind and offering a community center.

“This is a very ambitious project, but it should be ambitious, since Amherst is an exceptional town,” Faerber said.

Some of the aspects, such as the Civil War tablets that pay tribute to the Black residents of town will have permanent home. Anika Lopes, founder of Ancestral Bridges, said this will be the first town space where Black and Afro Indigenous families will be centered. Lopes recalled as a child walking to the library with her grandmother and the importance of books to her family.

Alex Lefebvre, a former trustee who now serves on the building committee, praised the universal design principles and that the building is net-zero ready and will be carbon neutral.

Many of the speakers offered thanks, including Timothy Cherubini, the vice chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, which provided the initial $13.8 million and then supplemented that with $1.69 million pandemic escalation.

Jones Library Director Sharon Sharry, speaking through tears, quoted Fred Rogers in “look for the helpers,” and that the library is a safe, inspiring and welcoming space. She called out each of the 52 staff, with each receiving a single clap of applause when their name was read from the filled atrium. “They are my heroes and I am so lucky to work with them,” Sharry said.

There were also light moments, including when Sarat began his talk by noting the “opportunity to return your overdue library books, just don’t return them here” — referencing that 101 University Drive location that will be the temporary site for library operations — and when McGovern quipped that people say a “library is a hospital for the mind, and I know a lot of people who need to check in.”

Following the ceremony, a reception was held at The Drake performance venue, where financial backers of the library project, supporters from the business community and library staff were treated to chicken skewers, crudites, sea cake and charcuterie, slices from a celebratory cake and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic bubbly.

Ginny Hamilton, the campaign manager, said that with the project beginning, she is confident in raising the remaining $7.9 million.

“People have been fulfilling their pledges and we are now hoping more people fill out pledges,” Hamilton said.

Offering a toast, Lee Edwards, a trustee who co-chairs the campaign committee, thanked all those gathered. “It takes a village, you are our village,” she said.

Among those serving the beverages was Matt Blumenfeld, an Amherst financial consultant who has assisted trustees with the project. Though the Jones project has been a decade or more in the making, he said he worked on the Holyoke Public Library over the course of 14 years.

Blumenfeld said that his in-laws, the parents of his wife, Claudia Canale-Parola, came to Amherst in the early 1960s and became frequent users and strong supporters of the Jones, and the project should be seen as a way to make Amherst a better place.

“I’m elated it’s going to happen,” Blumenfeld said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.