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Stetson Hall will be attached to a new library on the Williams campus.

Williams Preps For Sawyer Library Project

Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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Sawyer Library will be razed and rebuilt in the spring.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — After a two-year delay, Williams College is preparing to build a new library this spring. Williams College Board of Trustees voted in October to proceed and preparation has begun.

"Work will start in late spring. There will be some prep work. Work on the buildings could begin in June," James Kolesar, assistant to the president of public affairs, said on Tuesday.

The project, part of the $128 million Stetson-Sawyer project, includes razing the current Sawyer Library and rebuilding it on a renovated Stetson Hall. The current Sawyer location will be left for green space between the Paresky Student Center and two office and classroom buildings that have been built as part of the project.

Originally planned to open in summer 2011, the estimated $80 million project was delayed by the trustees in 2008, when constructed was expected to begin. The new library is now expected to open in 2014. According to a letter from President Adam Falk, the project was put on hold because of the recession but with recent support more than half the total cost has been raised, triggering his recommendation to proceed.


The new library will become the campus's main library and host information technology services, meeting and classroom areas, a cafe and computer labs. It will also host the campus archives and Chapin Library of Rare Books. It's projected to stand five stories and extend out from the sides of Stetson, however, architects have tried to keep it low profile compared to the other buildings.

A project to renovate Westin Field is still postponed while the college reexamines it, according to Falk's letter.

More details about the project can be found here.
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Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
 
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
 
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
 
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
 
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
 
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
 
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
 
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