Willingboro residents worry proposed library relocation could shrink services

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The 42,000-square-foot Willingboro Public Library has long been a community hub and fixture, catering to small children and older adults with programming and services.

A recent proposal to move the library from its current location at the Willingboro Town Center off U.S. Route 130, to the Kennedy Center, a municipal complex that is home to a recreation center, senior center and athletic fields, is not getting much love from library patrons.

Jennifer Jennings, a longtime township resident, said the Kennedy Center doesn’t have the space and would shrink the library’s current programs, making it more like a “resource room.”

“The library was offering different programs to get us together, and they had a lot of programs for the kids, and it was just a nice place to come,” she said. “The whole ambiance of a library, I don’t know if they’ll be able to duplicate that there.”

Talks of the library’s future continue

Willingboro Mayor Samantha Whitfield emphasized that officials are exploring the possibility of moving the library, but said there are no plans currently in place.

“This council is a very data-driven council. We don’t take things lightly,” Whitefield said. “We assess projects in great detail before we take them on.”

Whitfield said she is aware of residents’ concerns.

“We get a lot of feedback from folks that are not in favor of moving the library,” she said.

While older residents are not in favor of a possible move, Whitfield said younger residents seemed open to the idea.

“Some of our … elementary and middle school [residents] are saying, ‘Oh, that would be really cool to have the library within the JFK Center,” she said. “A lot of our younger residents are primary users of the library.”

Mattie Mallory, another longtime Willingboro resident, recalled how the library became the hangout for her daughter in middle school.

“It was to the point where you almost had to make an appointment after school because that’s where the kids went to hang out,” she said.

Mallory, who is also part of Friends of the Willingboro Public Library, questions why the library needs to be moved.

“Right now, it seems like the library is thriving,” she said. “We get conflicting reports from the council that it’s not being used to its fullest. I think that some of that is not accurate.”

Whitfield said comments from residents are not “falling on deaf ears” and acknowledged that the library would be in a smaller space at the Kennedy Center while adding the current location is “massive.”

“It takes a lot of maintenance,” she said. “It is owned by the township and we may be able to use that amount of space in a different way, more effectively in a different way if we move the library.”

According to Whitfield, the amount of library visitors dropped 50% during the height of the pandemic and has yet to recover.

“We’ve been inching up slowly, but I don’t even think we’re back to 75% of the numbers pre-COVID,” she said, adding that more people would be able to take advantage of the library if it was at the Kennedy Center.

“The senior center is also within the JFK Center so that would give some of our seniors greater access to the library because it’s right where their activity center is,” Whitfield said.

Library space is one part of overall look at Willingboro buildings

Whitfield said township officials are examining whether all of the public buildings are being fully utilized.

She believes the current library inventory could be housed at the Kennedy Center with room for expansion, freeing up its current space for other uses.

“We could use that room for offices or have a lease agreement with an outside business and bring in some revenue to the township with that large of a space,” Whitfield said.

Editor’s note: This story originated from our interactions with community members at WHYY News’ pop-up newsroom event at the Willingboro Public Library. The pop-up newsroom was made possible thanks to the support of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.