By Ashley M. Casey
Contributing Editor
The Baldwinsville Public Library has been named Public Library of the Year for 2018. The Central New York Library Resources Council presented the award at its annual meeting in October.
“It tells us we must be doing something right,” said BPL Director Meg Van Patten. “It’s nice to get feedback that you’re on the right track.”
Van Patten said Public Library of the Year is a relatively new award.
“The first was the Cazenovia [Public] Library, and it’s hard to beat a library with their own mummy,” she said.
B’ville is no stranger to the CLRC awards. In 2017, Outreach and Public Relations Librarian Nancy Howe was named Public Library Staff All-Star. That same year, the Baker Learning Commons — the high school library — was named School Library of the Year.
Robert Manning, a member of the library’s board of trustees, nominated BPL. Manning has assisted the library in tracking its energy usage and sustainability efforts, which are helped by state-funded green improvements.
“There is something very special going on at the Baldwinsville Public Library,” Manning wrote in his nomination.
The Public Library of the Year award, Van Patten said, is based on a library’s innovation and involvement in the community. Van Patten credited the library team members with their initiative in diving into local organizations and causes.
Howe recently finished a term as president of the Greater Baldwinsville Chamber of Commerce, and Van Patten is president of the Baldwinsville Rotary Club. She also serves on the board of McHarrie’s Legacy, which runs the Museum at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse.
Bonnie Kisselstein, local history librarian, doubles as the town of Lysander’s town historian and contributes to The Messenger’s popular History Mystery feature. Along with Van Patten and Shacksboro’s Sue McManus, Kisselstein was instrumental in creating the B’ville Voices project, a community art and history trail with sculpted “memory markers” and recordings of B’villians sharing first-person stories.
With several library team members putting down roots in local organizations, the Baldwinsville Public Library has become an integral part of the community and many of Baldwinsville’s recognizable events: the village of Baldwinsville’s Christmas Tree Lighting festivities, Shacksboro’s Peony Festival, Seneca River Days and the Baldwinsville Canal Arts Festival, to name a few.
While BPL is intertwined with the greater Baldwinsville community, Van Patten noted that the library has been on the forefront of technology, programming and services for its patrons.
“It’s more than just a collection of stuff,” she said.
BPL was the first public library in Onondaga County to offer internet access. In the early 1990s, the library received a grant through Project GAIN (Global Access Information Network) to train staff in how to use the internet, which was still in its infancy. Van Patten recalled hauling computer equipment around B’ville to demonstrate internet usage to the GBCC and Rotary.
“This, at the time, was high tech: a tiny Mac, modem, text-only internet,” Van Patten said.
Today, BPL continues to increase its digital capabilities. Via the library website, patrons can browse newspaper archives, take Lynda.com courses, flip through magazines and download music. Patrons can chat in real time with a librarian or browse through the library catalog. BPL also offers “drop-in” tech support sessions to guide people through their new tablets, phones and computers.
Behind those screens, Van Patten stressed, are real people who devote their energy to helping library users. Van Patten said the library’s success lies in its employees. She said her staff focuses on interactions with patrons both in person and over the phone.
“When we’re open, there’s no phone tree. You get a person,” she said.
After BPL was presented with the CLRC award, Van Patten hosted a luncheon for current and former staff members. She also invited the loved ones of employees who had passed away. The library has dedicated the break room to three late staffers: Judy Lease, Betty Ursell and Connie Ebner. Van Patten said the dedication was bittersweet, but the BPL community came together to celebrate their contributions.
“It’s not just one person — it’s everybody, including the people from the past,” she said. “It’s each little person, each little thing that they do that goes into this.”
