BAY HEAD — The Bay Head branch of the Ocean County Library System has announced that it will be closing its doors on Saturday, June 17 due to the Bay Head School needing the building to prepare for its upcoming preschool program.
“Our lease ran out and they needed the building,” said Librarian and OCL Public Information Officer Sheri Taliercio. “The building is owned by the district and they are planning to use the building for preschool in the 23-24 school year…This led us to figure something else.”
The school district is looking to implement a preschool program in 2024 and will be using that space, according to Superintendent of Bay Head School Steve Corso.
This plan was previously discussed around a year ago when the district had the idea of terminating the library’s lease in order to get back the building sooner. Instead, the district waited for the end of the lease. According to Ms. Taliercio, books will be redistributed to other branches and furniture will be placed in storage.
“The preliminary plans will be to turn that space into a preschool center starting September 2024,” said Superintendent Corso. “We still will need to do some building upgrades to the space to get it ready for that program. This will give us a chance to put the word out that the program is coming in the fall of 2024 while we work to make sure the space is up to the required codes to house those preschool students.”
Since the library will no longer be able to use the building, the borough of Bay Head has come up with an idea to keep the branch from leaving the area completely. According to Ms. Taliercio, the branch will be looking to open the Bay Head Express at the Borough Hall building at some time in July.
“We are making space available for the library express services which include drop off and pick up services,” said Bay Head Mayor William Curtis. “There will be no hanging out at the spot…the services will be closed when Borough Hall is closed.”
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