Caution tape and plastic tarps now stand between Belchertown residents and their reading materials. Last Friday, just after the Clapp Memorial Library closed for the day, a staff member saw a small piece of the ceiling crumble and fall.

"Just a little bit of stuff came down from the ceiling and she called me and we were in the middle of calling to get someone to look at the ceiling when we heard the big crash,' says Library Director Owen Maloney.

The big crash was a 20 by 15 foot section of the roof collapsing. Luckily, no one was inside at the time, and very few people have been allowed inside since.

"We just want to make sure now that the rest of the ceiling is safe and we get this repaired," says Maloney.

Because of the collapse even library staff aren't allowed to go up the stairs to the main library to get books for patrons, but they are finding a way to keep residents reading this summer.

"We want the people to know that we haven't abandoned them," says Maloney. "We're doing the best that we can with the services that we have."

Services that are now run out of the library's basement. Nearly 500 people participate in the library's various summer reading programs, and they will now have to rely on books returned after the collapse or those ordered from other local libraries.

"We're helping people order books from other libraries and then they can come here and pick them up," says Maloney.

A system library staff hopes will keep people reading and out of harms way.

"Patron safety is our number one concern," says Maloney.

There is no word on when repairs will be complete.