Morrill Library, now in 3D

The Morrill Memorial Library Board of Trustees met recently and discussed the coming of a brand new way to explore the building.

Assistant Library Director – and Official Notary – Lydia Sampson said she was helping a new business owner, Brian Lynch, get his paperwork done for his business and the idea for 3D virtual tours of the building came together quite suddenly.

“If you want to build up your portfolio, people love our building so much and are so proud of it and ask so many questions about it, maybe you’d consider doing a tour of our library,” she said. “And a few months later I got a message from him.”

Sampson said just this month they had him come in and do a shoot.

“Fortunately all our staff cooperated in tidying up their areas so it looked as good as possible,” she said with a laugh.

Sampson said the draft of the tour looks “amazing,” and added that they might try to have interactive items in the building that patrons can click on as they ‘move’ through the library.

“We’re also realizing we can use it for wayfinding, for assisting presenters to show them their room in advance, and lots of other things,” she said. “You can click on a study room and learn how to book that study room.”

Morrill Executive Director Clayton Cheever added that the tour will be VR headset compatible.

Sampson said the shoot itself was free, but the library will be paying a small amount so that Lynch can keep the photos hosted. It’s a rather large file – an entire 3D interior representation of the library – and takes up a lot of hosting space.

“To have it on our website, it would take up a lot of bandwidth,” she said. “We’ll have it embedded in our website.”

“I could definitely see some gamification, scavenger hunts, all kinds of fun stuff you could play with,” said member Christina Stetson.

“It’s really really cool,” said Sampson.

In other news, the Board welcomed two new members, Stetson, mentioned above, and Jennifer Mancuso. Stetson said she first moved to Norwood in 2017 and owns Modern Eyes.

“I love books, everything about books, the smell, the feel, the adventures they take you on, and that’s just scratching the surface of what a library can be,” she said. “I’m just excited to be a part of it.”

Mancuso said she moved to Norwood in 2014 with her family. She said she has two young girls at the Prescott School.

“I work in insurance and I try to stay active with my girls. We love the library so I’m very happy to be here participating at the Board of Trustees.”

The Board also said goodbye to long-time member Marguerite Cummings, who decided not to run again for her seat.

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“It’s been a great nine years and I appreciate and honor and value every minute working here as a trustee,” she said, and then addressed Stetson and Mancuso. “I wish you all the joy that it brought me, along with all the angst as well.”

Cummings added that she underestimated the library when she first came to the position.

“When I came here first as a trustee, I thought, ‘Hey it’s just the library... I went here when I was a kid,’ but it’s just such a beehive of activity,” she said.

Cummings said the hardest part of her service was finding Cheever.

“One of the most difficult and endearing and rewarding things was the director search, and we got the best director in Massachusetts to come to Norwood, and it’s been a great thing for Norwood,” she said. “Not just for the library but for the community of Norwood.”

Cheever brought a card signed by members of the Morrill staff.

“I want to thank Marguerite for all her years of service,” Cheever said. “We have a small token of our appreciation here. I know you told us you didn’t want the traditional mirror and so we didn’t get you a traditional mirror, but we didn’t go as basic as we could have. But I think you’ll like the compromise we have here.” Marguerite was delighted with her ornamental box gift.