In 1997, the Trustees and the Director of the Ossining Public Library drafted the library’s first Long Range Plan of Service. The Director was given five years to implement the Plan, which covers the period ending June, 2003. The four objectives of the Plan were ambitious, especially since the library was already under a considerable strain to provide up-to-date library services in an aging and severely-undersized facility. With one year left to go, how much progress has the Ossining Public Library made so far to meet these challenges? Here is the original Long Range Plan of Service, with commentary added in red.
The Ossining Public Library began in the 1880’s as a collection of a few hundred books shelved in the office of the Superintendent of Schools. Through two charters (it was originally called the Sing Sing Public Library) and several re-locations, the Library’s collection and services have grown to serve an equally thriving Village and Town. Our current building opened in 1968, replacing a 50-year-old Carnegie library that had occupied the same site.
During the past 30 years, the Ossining Public Library has seen dramatic growth and change. In addition to having a substantial collection of books and periodicals, the Library now offers a wide range of audiovisual material and electronic resources. Our automation system can locate books throughout the County, and the Internet has become a valuable information tool. New technologies on the horizon will offer even more opportunities for the Library to enhance its services.
Serving a diverse population, and faced with the challenges of rapid change, fiscal restraints, and an aging facility, the Trustees of the Ossining Public Library began its first exercise in long range planning in 1995. The process has included discussions with the Director and staff, a community-wide survey, focus group meetings, and a review of the final draft by the public. The Trustees formally adopted this document on December 1, 1997. We thank you for your participation and encouragement throughout the planning process.
The Ossining Public Library is a School District Library chartered by the State of New York to serve all residents of the Ossining School District. As a member of the Westchester Library System, it also provides services to a larger community. The mission of the Library is:
In January, 1998, the total number of active library cards issued in Ossining was 8,536. Today, that number stands at 11,904. This is a 40% increase in only four years! The Junior Room staff has done extensive work with the School District to register children for library cards. Patrons can now register for a card from our Home Page, and we are now exploring the cost and design implications of a community-wide mailing of our newsletter.
In 1997, the Spanish collection on
the main floor consisted of around 250 volumes, many of which
had not circulated in years. Today, there are well over 1,000
titles, including popular fiction and current reference books.
The Spanish collection in the Junior Room has doubled in four
years, thanks in part to a generous grant in 1999 from the Readers
Digest Foundation.
There are now Spanish-language versions of our library card
application and our suggestion form. The next redesign of our
web site will include Spanish content, and our site now links
to the WLS Resources page, which includes two Spanish databases.
A Hispanic Advisors group was organized in 2000, and met on
an ad hoc basis for almost two years. The group merged with
the Expansion Committee in late 2001. In addition to the listed
activities, the Library added two full-time bilingual employees
to the Circulation Department, and offered conversational Spanish
to all interested employees.
The library’s collections of print and non-print materials, impressive to begin with, has seen strong growth and improvement over the last four years. Our book budget has increased 40%, the non-print budget by 60%, and the periodicals budget by 25%. Ossining’s materials budget ranks 7th among Westchester libraries. An express loan collection was started in 2000. Circulation of print and non-print materials has grown significantly in recent years, and 2002 will be our busiest one yet. Signage on the main floor was upgraded in 2000, and major collections are now clearly marked. Junior Room signage was to be part of an overall renovation of that room in 2001; that project, plus floor maps of both levels, was put aside to concentrate on a more ambitious expansion project.
When this document was being written, plans were just getting underway to expand and redesign the Junior Room; the first and third strategies in this section anticipated that project. In early 2000, the library turned its attention instead to a major expansion and renovation of the entire building, and strategies for improving the Junior Room will be incorporated into our new building program. The library added a new, full time children’s librarian to the staff in 2001, and our level of programming has increased dramatically: both the number of programs offered and the attendance at programs is now 60% higher than it was 4 years ago. Our only limiting factor now is the availability of program space.
Today’s OPL web page is a complete revision of the original site, and a third version is now being designed. Our site has more content, loads faster, and works with more browsers than most other sites in Westchester, including libraries much larger than ours. Visitors can learn about OPL’s history, governance, and budget, view programming information, or print out a copy of our monthly newsletter. Links to our central library enable patrons to search for materials, check their accounts, and use handy guides for navigating the Internet. Content is changed and augmented regularly. The staff provide one-on-one Internet instruction to any patrons who ask for assistance. In addition, the library offers small-group instruction on an occasional basis, and publishes themed searching tips and handy links in our monthly newsletter and on bookmarks.