March 27, 2003
The Community Connects @ your library
SYRACUSE --- National Library Week, April 6 to 12, is a great time to see what's new @ your library. In a world rife with chaos and conflict, libraries provide information, education, and entertainment, as well as stability and comfort.
Onondaga County Public Library's Soule Branch manager Liz Loftus is in fine tune with her library community. When tragedy unfolded on 9/11, patrons in the library were desperate for news, which only a radio provided. During National Library Week 2003, Soule Branch will unveil a new large-screen TV, thanks in part to a grant from the Syracuse Rotary, to keep the community informed of news events. Recently, Loftus secured special guest Goodwin Cooke, Professor of International Relations at Syracuse University's Maxwell School and former Ambassador to Central Africa, to address 38 library patrons eager for information about the current situation in Iraq.
Every day more than 120,000 librarians nationwide connect students, families, business-people, and teachers with the information they want and need to be successful in a swiftly changing and increasingly global era. As the economy has faltered, more and more Americans have relied on libraries for help finding jobs; access to thousands of books, CDs, DVDs, and videotapes; access to the Internet; and expert help on evaluating the deluge of information encountered on the Web. People also look to their local library as a place to connect with their neighbors and colleagues. Here are just a few examples:
· Neighbor serving neighbor is key to community at the Marcellus Free Library, where 35 volunteers staff the circulation desk. Additionally, an active library friends group sponsors extra services and social events. In the late 1960s, the friends group started Hob Nob Day, which has since evolved into the community-wide annual event called Market Days.
· Mundy Branch Library offers people of all ages a sense of belonging, of being connected. One customer and lifetime library user, Rebecca Nellenback, got tips on writing and designing resumes from the library's print resources, while word-processing software and laser printers let her prepare a high-quality resume for potential employers. Nellenback says, “Mundy Branch definitely helped me get the job of Program Director for Peace Action of Central New York.”
· The Liverpool Public Library has been doing its part to keep community memories alive. The local history video collection preserves firsthand recollections of events, places, and people. Included in the Liverpool Legends Collection, produced in-house since 1989, are tapes featuring the willow-basket and salt industries, Ste. Marie Among the Iroquois, and Heid's of Liverpool. Seniors and war veterans recall life in Liverpool during World War II and the Depression.
· More than 100 years of library service to Syracuse's West Side is the legacy of Hazard Branch Library. The historically multiethnic population of this neighborhood continues to be reflected in a strong Irish, Polish, and Ukrainian collection and programming. But even more, Hazard accentuates the heritage of the library as a cornerstone of civic life in the community. Jerrilleine Cuffee Washington has been bringing her first-grade class to visit Hazard Branch weekly for the past year and a half. Her philosophy is that if children are going to learn, they will need thousands of experiences—and what better way to derive experience than from the rich store that books offer.
This week Onondaga County Public Library and communities across the country celebrate National Library Week and the valuable contribution of libraries and librarians in schools, universities and public libraries. Libraries are part of the American dream – places for lifelong learning and free and equal access to a world of resources. Visit yours today.
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