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Libraries Are A Source of Reading But Also Meeting, Sanctuary, and Learning
By Anne Carroll
Most of us go to the library for a book or DVD or magazine. Even free museum tickets or a concert. But a carpet cleaner? Not the first resource one thinks about when in search of spring cleaning.
Valley Cottage Library has a unique cache that is news to most. It loans a variety of household and electronic goods such as bakeware, carpet cleaners, game consoles, small appliances and more to community patrons from its Community Closet collection. This resource is just one more way libraries do a yeoman’s service to patrons’ economic, social, and intellectual needs.
Christy Blanchette, director of the Valley Cottage Library, says the idea for this special collection began with loaning eReaders. Then, “the concept morphed into the Community Closet where I thought what else can we offer that would allow residents access to things they might need but might not need all the time or might not want to store their house,” she said.
The Community Closet has the added appeal of potentially saving patrons from buyer’s remorse by allowing them to have a “try before you buy” type of experience. For example, the library houses several game consoles and a robust collection of board games patrons can take for a test drive. Popular items include outdoor movie projector and screen, and lawn games, as well as the library’s mobile hot spots. The treasure chest of amenities includes a food dehydrator, chocolate fountain, and karaoke machine.
Blanchette explains that while the Community Closet seems novel, “it’s the same thing as us offering programing and technology support in our community […] libraries have always kind of shifted to fill those needs of their communities so it’s just another way that we do that.
“Libraries are even more valuable in tough times than they are in the good times because we are able to share resources and provide a relief for people who might not be able to either pay for their Internet access so they can come get a hotspot, or whether they don’t want to spend the money to get the cake pan for their kid’s birthday party, or whatever it may be. It is a way that we can sort of provide economic relief in our community,” Blanchette added.
Valley Cottage Library also dedicates its front gallery to area artists, who display their works for a month.
Although the Community Closet is unique to Valley Cottage Library, other Rockland libraries respond to their communities’ needs beyond book loaning. Both New City Library and the Haverstraw King’s Daughters Public Library provide strong programming, various services, and a place for social connection.
At New City Library, visitors can take 3D printing, coding, and craft classes in their makerspace. The Haverstraw King’s Daughters Public Library offers notary, US passport acceptance, printing, scanning, and faxing services. Both libraries loan museum passes to places like the Guggenheim, Intrepid, and 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
“We’re a place of education, and education is more than books,” said New City Library’s Head of Community Relations, Veronica Reynolds. “You should be able to come and hear somebody speak. You should be able to go to a museum. This is a community resource for education of all kinds.”
Libraries also create a free space for visitors to gather or read or contemplate.
“We provide sort of this mental and a physical space and a sense of connection that I think people really need in their lives to help combat this isolation that seems to be increasing as time goes on,” says the Director of Haverstraw King’s Daughters Library, Claudia Depkin. The library has one of the best vistas of the Hudson River.
Depkin says friendships are sometimes cemented at the library between patrons who attend programming. For example, “a group of folks who learned how to play Mahjong here and now they come every week and just set up at some tables and just play.” The Haverstraw King’s Daughters Library also hosts children’s events such as Mad Science shows and early literacy programs.
Before their recent renovation, New City Library found their community’s biggest request was more spaces for group and independent work through surveys and focus groups. Taking their advice the library added spaces such as the vending cafe and several rooms for people to study or hang out in. These new spaces have been popular among the community; Reynolds reports “on a weekday night it’s just packed with students studying.”
“Libraries are more than just books,” said Depkin. “We’re sort of the community’s living room. We’re a space where people can come and meet and learn and share and talk.”
Reynolds believes “in most communities, the library gets underutilized by most people,” and encourages people to “go to your library and just ask what’s there.”
