Anna Chatillon attended the grand opening of the new Belmont Public Library on January 17 and told the Belmont Voice that she was "definitely planning to be here a lot," especially on cold winter days. Board of Library Trustees Chair Kathy Keohane estimated that the new children's room was more than double the size of the children's space in the old building.

That was winter, with 5,200 people coming through on one or both days of opening weekend. Now it's October, and the building at 336 Concord Ave. is in its first fall. Most of what's useful this season isn't on a shelf. The library lends a gas-leak detector, opens an 1859 town map and the old Town Hall jail key to drop-in visitors two afternoons a week, and has a tuba player booked for a Saturday afternoon.

What the extra square footage paid for

The new building has 41,000 square feet and was designed by Oudens Ello Architecture. It cost $39.5 million. Voters approved a $34.5 million debt exclusion, and community donations covered nearly $6 million.

It's nearly 11,000 square feet larger than the old library. Keohane said about half of that growth came from accessibility code requirements for ADA compliance. So the new rooms worth knowing about fit inside a margin smaller than the headline number suggests. They include a children's room more than twice its old size, two history rooms, a teen space and a Community Classroom.

The building is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Weeknight hours run until 9, which is long enough to walk upstairs after work.

Upstairs, Belmont's history has two rooms and set hours

At the top of the wooden staircase, two rooms sit next to each other. The Underwood History Room holds fragile, rare books in locked cabinets where visitors can see them. Next door, the Claflin Room displays town artifacts under a colorful 1859 wall map of Belmont. They include a large key to the former jail cell in the Town Hall basement, arrowheads and a powder horn.

At the opening, the Belmont Historical Society said it planned to staff the Claflin Room a few days a week. That's now a fixed schedule. The Society lists staffed hours on Mondays and Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m. The library's October calendar shows the same open hours ending a little earlier, at 5:45 p.m., on October 5 and October 8. Drop-in visitors can look at the collection and ask a volunteer questions. If you're going near closing time, check the calendar for the day before you head over.

The Society's fall lineup also comes back to the building. Susan Mara Bregman's "New England Sweets" lecture is set for Sunday, October 25, 2 to 4 p.m., at the library.

The Underwood Room gets used on weekdays too. An English as a Second Language group led by Carolyn meets there and works through journal writing, reading comprehension and practice dialogues over eight weeks.

The Library of Tools covers most of a fall house checklist

Fall is when a lot of Belmont households check the house before winter. The library's Library of Things includes a section it calls the Library of Tools, and much of what's in it fits that seasonal list.

Here are some of the tools the library lists, grouped by the job they help with:

• Checking for dampness: moisture meters, for basements, window sills and anywhere you've seen staining.
• Checking safety: gas-leak detectors and electrical testers.
• Tracking energy use: electrical-use monitors, which are handy before heating season starts.
• Hanging and leveling: laser levels and cordless drills.
• Prep work: sanders and portable vacuums.
• The car and the bike: car-code readers, bicycle pumps, air pumps and battery testers.

The craft and conversion shelf is just as practical. It includes a slide and negative scanner, a photo scanner and a VHS-to-digital converter. Those are good for the box of family tapes that tends to turn up during a fall closet cleanout. The same section has a sewing machine, a tracer projector, a Wacom tablet, a paper-punch set and a yarn-ball winder.

The borrowing rules are specific to Belmont. Belmont cardholders can check availability and place a hold by selecting the item's image in the catalog. Things have to be picked up from and returned to a Belmont location. They can't be sent to another Minuteman branch. For questions, call Reference at 617-993-2870. The library calls the collection "growing," so treat the list above as examples and check the catalog for what's on hand.

The Community Classroom is where you make things

The Library of Tools lends equipment for jobs at home. The Community Classroom, on the same floor as the history rooms, is where you make things on-site. The library says it welcomes "crafters, engineers, artists, tinkerers, musicians, and more." Its current equipment is 3D printers, Cricut cutting machines and sewing machines.

You'll need basic safety training and a signed waiver before you can book time on any of the tools. Trainings and Book-a-Spot hours are posted on the library's calendar. If you want a part printed but don't want to run the machine yourself, the library takes 3D print requests through an online submission form. Questions go to [email protected]. The current program lineup includes tool training, Python instruction and 3D-printing workshops.

The fall calendar, in one place

Morrissey Hall is on the first floor, and it's where the adult and all-ages fall programs happen. The children's room has its own seasonal crafts. Most of the events below are sponsored by the Friends of the Belmont Public Library.

The Oktoberfest set brings together Sonny Barbato on accordion, Eric Goode on tuba and Mike Piehl on drums. Megan K. Palmer is listed as a local author, and the Friends are supplying the craft materials for her event. These are scheduled listings, so check the library's event calendar on the day.

Outdoors, the patio is the space in use so far

When the library opened in January, Library Building Committee chair Clair Colburn pointed out how the building connects to the outdoors: an event terrace, a stone amphitheater, a walking path and woodland gardens. The Voice noted at the time that the grounds were muted in winter but showed "clear signs of possibilities in the other three seasons."

So far, the library's calendar shows those possibilities happening on the Library Patio. The Summer Reading kickoff on June 26 spread across the Children's Program Room, the patio and Morrissey Hall, with free ice cream from Frozen Hoagies and sponsorship from the Friends. In August, Sunshine and Storytime was held on the patio four times, on Aug. 4, 11, 18 and 25. The October 19 and November 16 storytimes keep the patio in use into the cooler months. Both move indoors to the Children's Program Room if the weather turns. The calendar hasn't listed a program in the amphitheater or the gardens yet. The walking path is a nice way to arrive before a Saturday set in Morrissey Hall.

When Colburn described the building as "designed by the community, for the community," she added that it "has something for everyone." This fall, that includes a moisture meter you can borrow for the basement and a volunteer who can tell you about the jail key.

If the Library of Tools has you planning a fall project, and you're wondering whether it's a weekend job or the start of something bigger, Sarah Shimoff is happy to talk it through. That might be patching what the moisture meter found or getting a period home ready to show its best. Let's Connect.