Onset residents may have noticed changes to a familiar face this past week, as renovations to the Spinney Memorial library began on Tuesday Feb. 16.

“I drive by, and I can't believe that it looks even smaller than it already was,” said Priscilla Porter, the chair of the building committee for the Friends of the Wareham Free Library.

The renovation will add an ell to the back and side of the building, adding space for a circulation desk, a reading room and books on the first floor and basement storage. The existing building will be converted into a meeting room. The second floor will be removed to allow a cathedral ceiling to bring additional light into the new addition. A brick patio will be located in the back. The renovation is designed to harmonize with the surrounding architecture of Onset, and the building's front facade will remain the same. The building will total 1,900 square feet.

“It won't be real big, but it will look like it belongs in Onset village,” said Porter.

According to Susan Pizzolato, the coauthor of Images of America: Wareham, the building was originally owned by the Spiritualist group that held revivals in Onset in the late 19^th century. The women of the Harvest Moon Society ran the library, then called the Onset Library, and sold handmade crafts to support the building and its collection.  The library continued until the 1940s.

Porter said that the library had always been an somewhat informal location to drop off and pick up donated books. Unfortunately, this informality enabled the collection to be shipped overseas and scattered around the world during World War II! The Girl Scouts began using the building next, and continue to do so today.

The Friends of the Wareham Free Library were given the building by the Spinney Memorial Inc. in 2005, after the latter group determined that they could no longer maintain it or fund necessary repairs. According to Porter, the group hoped that the Friends would eventually make it into a branch of the Wareham Free Library. The Friends have been fundraising since to collect the money necessary to renovate and add on to the building. The project has gone through many iterations, but Porter estimated its total costs to be nearly $600,000. Funding has been specifically designated for books, computers, and furnishings. The Friends will continue to fundraise for building maintenance needs and will provide volunteer staffing when the project is completed in the fall. The building requires a vote at Town Meeting to be accepted as a branch of the Wareham Free Library and maintained by the town.

“Hopefully when the town finances get into better shape, Town Meeting will agree that [the library branch] will be a good investment for the town,” Porter said.

“We just want to get the building going,” Porter continued. “It's been a long time coming and the people in Onset really need some library services. But then, if I had my way, there would be a branch in every section of town!”