Reborn Stetson Library Opens Its Doors

Diane Brown swung open the door Monday morning to a long-awaited new, enhanced neighborhood library and community anchor at the corner of Dixwell Avenue and Foote Street, with lots more room, more books, and more to do.

Brown is the longtime librarian at Dixwell’s Stetson Branch Library, which now occupies a bigger, brighter space on two floors of the rebuilt Dixwell Q House.

The door officially opened at 10 a.m.

Across the street sat the old Stetson, set in a smaller strip of Dixwell that served as the neighborhood’s de facto community center for years while the Q was shuttered.

After outgrowing its former 7,650 square feet, Stetson has found an opportunity to expand. Its new home, with just over 13,000 square feet, features a children’s zone, topped by a teen and adult second floor framed by literature exploring and documenting the African American diaspora. The refurbished library includes a maker space studio with its own 3D printer, 5 sewing machines, podcasting technology, and virtual reality headsets as well as a teen lounge containing two televisions, a PS5 and an Xbox Series X.

Stetson joins Cornell Scott Hill Health Center as a tenant of the center — and, as Brown noted, it remains an entirely independent facility. 

“Everybody in here should get equal respect,” Brown said of the organizations that make up the new Q. 

“It’s the Stetson Library at the Q House, not in the Q House,” she distinguished. She compared Stetson to Macy’s — though Macy is ​“in the mall,” it has its own entrance, defining it as an entirely separate store and destination.

“I had an architect explain that to me,” Brown said with a laugh.

Since its founding in the early 20th century, Stetson has evolved its services and programming to meet the changing needs of the residents who use them. Over the course of a few years, the New Haven Public Library Foundation raised $2.5 million to support the growth of its Stetson branch, finding funding to top what was provided by the city and state in order to build on the community’s collective vision for the new facility.

A half-million of those dollars, went to purchasing over 16,000 new titles. 

Brown said the library has been able to hire three additional staff members, all of whom are Black women. 

The new staffers are Mercedes MacAlpine, Shayla Foreman and Erica Cruz. Foreman and Cruz both attended New Haven public schools growing up.

Foreman, a licensed library technician, said working at Stetson has been her ​“lifelong dream.”

When she was growing up, the Q House served as an ​“ideal” image of her community. Now, she said, she wants to continue to watch her ​“community develop into its greatness.”

Mercedes MacAlpine pursued a library position after graduating from college with a focus in Black studies and critical race theory. Many of the issues plaguing New Haven, she said, are tied to ​“things that are so much bigger, and that we need to address.” Stetson connects with diverse organizations and resources to create a sense of ​“collective community action,” she said.

This Saturday, the library will host a community event at 1 p.m. — a ​“Celebration of Jazz” featuring performances by members of Thelonious Monk’s family in partnership with the Shubert Theater.

On June 4, the six-person library crew will also throw a reopening party for Stetson as part of New Haven’s International Arts and Ideas festival, with live music from the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, a fashion show, guest animals from the Beardsley Zoo, and at least 24 local authors.

In the meantime, librarian Philip Modeen, who has worked at the Stetson branch for seven years, said that Stetson will continue to advertise itself organically as its staff is present and ​“out in the community.”

Brown spoke further about her decade of service at the Stetson Library Branch for WNNH FM’s ​“Word on the Street” segment of ​“LoveBabz LoveTalk.” Listen to the full interview below.