In December, the day after Sangram Randhawa arrived in Shrewsbury from Chicago to live with a friend while he studies for his medical licensing exams, he packed his lunch and his books and walked to the town’s public library.

“It motivates you. It’s discipline,’’ said Randhawa, 28, who for the past two months, no matter the weather, has been at the Shrewsbury library every day. “I was used to libraries in the hospitals.’’

What he wasn’t expecting was the warm welcome or the exchange­ of greetings that would become a part of his daily routine: In a place he had entered as a stranger, he was soon feeling at home.

“The first time I was in the library, I was literally whispering. In the hospital library, you’re not supposed to murmur,’’ Randhawa said. “Eventually, at the desk, someone asked, ‘Can you please speak a little louder?’ ’’

Randhawa isn’t the only one to have found a home at the public library. Across Massachusetts, libraries are fast becoming centers of community life, offering not only books and quiet but also amenities such as coffee, support groups, workshops, and movies.

In Shrewsbury, cardholders can join a Tuesday morning Scrabble group, bring a toddler to a reading-and-music hour or an older child to yoga, or drop off a middle-schooler for board games and pizza. The library also runs five weekly English Conversation Circles for English language learners, computer training for older adults, support groups for job seekers and entrepreneurs, and other programs.

“It’s not always very quiet. But nobody has complained,’’ said Priya­ Rathnam, the assistant library director.

Since October 2014, the library has operated in a former child-care center as the town carries out a $23.3 million project to renovate and expand the original 1903 structure. When it reopens later this year, the building will reflect the library’s changing role.

“We needed flexibility, the ability of the library facility not to impede program changes over time,’’ said Shrewsbury Town Manager Daniel J. Morgado. “Everyone realizes that the library program of today will not be the same in five years, 10 years, 50 years.’’

The completed 38,600-square-foot library will feature a large community meeting room equipped with an adjacent kitchen, wired for a range of technologies and designed to be divided into two rooms when needed.

There will also be a community commons with space for displays and exhibits, a beverage and vending cafe, an ATM, and expanded parking.

“People who are new to libraries or returning to libraries are noticing that libraries aren’t what they used to be — repositories for books and study spaces,’’ said Dianne Carty, director of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. “Librarians have always strived to meet the needs of their users. The evolution of the space in the library into a community center is really another manifestation of that.’’

Despite its temporary space, a sense of normalcy prevails at the Shrewsbury library: foot traffic is steady; programs are full; the bulletin boards are crammed with coming attractions; and the one-on-one attention that has become a hallmark of library services has not been compromised.

“People take pride in the library in town,’’ said Kristen Las, who is Shrewsbury’s assistant town manager/economic development coordinator. She cited four sections in the town’s master plan — public facilities, education, civic engagement, and town center — where the library is mentioned.

And services keep expanding, in part to welcome newcomers to Shrewsbury from India, China, Japan, and the Middle East. In 2009, when Rathnam was the children’s librarian, she met a woman from Tehran, also a librarian, who was frequently bringing her child to the library.

“She wanted to know if there were any English classes here,’’ said Rathnam, who started the library’s first English Conversation Circle, a program that has served 400 newcomers since it began. “I’m from India and relatively new. . . . I could empathize and I wanted to help people like her.’’

Daniel Barbour, the young-adult librarian, focuses on developing programs that encourage collaboration, taking his cue from a survey that found what teenagers value most about the library is the chance to make friends.

And last January, reference librarian Walker Evans launched “Let’s Make,’’ a series of classes in which participants learn everything from pickling vegetables and making yogurt to bike repair, songwriting, and electronics.

Library director Ellen Dolan said the library’s greatest strength is how it brings people together: 22,410 cardholders, 200 members of the library’s Friends group, 11 full-time and 20 part-time staff, and almost 600 volunteers.

On a recent weekday morning, Armando Fraire , a retired University of Massachusetts physician and professor, was reading The New York Times.

“I’m in my element,’’ said Fraire, whose daily routine begins with breakfast out, a walk, and a trip to the library.

Nearby, in a makeshift reading room with space for just two upholstered chairs, John Collins, a retired Nabisco sales manager, was reading the Globe. “I was too busy when I was working,’’ he said of his daily visit to the library. “I didn’t have time.’’

In the children’s room, Bouchra Moumnine, 40, asked Cindy Tylock, the library assistant, about programs for her children. For several months, Moumnine has been coming to the library to study for a high school equivalency exam.

“The first time I came I was a little shy,’’ she said. “I worried that people would see the [head] scarf and look at me differently. But it’s not the case. No. . . . I feel at home over here.’’

Hattie Bernstein can be reached at hbernstein04@icloud.com.