Saranac Lake Free Library Director Jacob Widrick flips through a book on landscaping inside the aisles of books on Wednesday. He said the new, brighter, cheaper and energy efficient lighting above is being paid for in most part through state funding announced this week. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Free Library is being awarded $95,341 from the state for upgrades to the building, including new lighting among the bookshelves and a new projector system in the basement Cantwell Room.

The funds are from $34 million in capital funds from the State Aid for Library Construction Program in the state budget passed this spring.

SLFL Director Jacob Widrick said he applies for these grants nearly every year.

“This is our second year in a row receiving quite large grants,” he said.

Last year, they used a grant to install a solar array on the roof and replace the large front-facing picture windows.

The funding was announced by local state representatives this week.

“Libraries are cornerstones of our communities, home to important resources and services,” state Sen. Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, said in a statement. “It’s vital that we ensure our libraries are state-of-the-art and equipped to fulfill a wide range of needs.”

“Libraries are such an important part of our communities and provide so many resources beyond books,” Billy Jones, D-Chateaugay Lake, said in a statement.

Widrick said libraries have been trending that way for a while. Their circulation is steadily increasing year over year — especially their digital offerings — but people don’t always come in for tangible products or services. Many people come to the library just to take advantage of the space for remote work, private study or meetings.

The library’s business model is to offer everything for free. Cost is a barrier to entry it seeks to overcome. Widrick’s hope is that these new offerings will bring more people in. When they come in for one thing, they’re apt to find other services, events, groups or books at the library.

Most of the upgrades are already done. The state money acts like a reimbursement. The library took money from its endowment for the work and is waiting on the state money to fill that in.

Widrick submitted his grant application in August 2023. He said he wasn’t certain they would get the grant, but pretty confident.

These upgrades cost more than $127,000. The state pays for 75% of the costs, so SLFL is paying a bit more than $31,000.

Local contractors with Smith and Stender did all the lighting and HVAC work.

All light fixtures in the public areas have been replaced with energy efficient LEDs, which are also brighter and cheaper to light.

“It also makes us realize, you know, how much in need we are of a fresh coat of paint on the inside of the building, having these nice new lights,” Widrick said with a laugh.

The library has not had cooling before.

“If you’ve ever been around for a book sale in the summer in the Cantwell Room, I’m sure you’ve noticed that it gets to be like 100 degrees pretty quickly,” Widrick said.

Also, it gets sweltering in front of windows on the ground floor when the sun shines in. Widrick said they still have radiator heating, but with this new system, he hopes they won’t even have to use the boiler this winter. Also, the new system runs completely silently.

In the basement Cantwell Room, Widrick shut the new lights off and turned on a large 4K projector.

On Wednesday, he was playing crisp footage of walruses on the screen and said he’d like to do film and documentary screenings like that with the big screen, saying he plans to organize free family movie nights. He also bought a Nintendo Switch and a copy of “Mario Kart.” He said the library has a lot of programing for very young children and seniors. These groups are their “bread and butter.” But he said the library struggles to bring in the teenage and young adult demographic. Having a video game night could bring them into the library.

Previously, when local groups did presentations in the room, they used a small projector or a small television, and these were always difficult to set up.

The library also bought a webcam system for virtual-in-person hybrid meetings.

Widrick said the Cantwell Room is used almost every night of the week for yoga, knitting, poetry, music, bereavement support and a variety of other activities. Local volunteer groups, community organizations and friends groups meet there to discuss their community efforts. A Magic the Gathering game group gathers each Friday night to lay down their cards.

Jones cited a survey of the state’s more than 1,000 public library buildings showing that more than half of them are over 60 years old. The SLFL was built in 1910 with expansions in 1925, the late 1960s, 1984, 2002 and 2007.