Patterson Library

Information/educational services and programs: we offer programs for patrons of all ages. Adult program offerings include book discussions, movies, mahjong, local history discussions, environmental programs, author talks, crafts, cooking demonstrations, lectures, health and exercise programs, writing workshops, financial seminars, and book discussions. Children and teen program offerings include storytimes, music and movement programs, movies, arts and crafts programs, minecraft, book discussions, hands-on cooking and gardening workshops, musical theater productions, murder mystery evenings, and open mic nights. A total of 6,352 people attended 520 programs in 2023. Summer reading keeps children engaged during their break with reading incentives and educational and entertaining programming. In 2023, approximately 300 children and teens and 456 adults participated in our summer reading program. In addition, the Library offers computers, copying, faxing, and scanning services, 24-hour wifi, and one-on-one programs such as open computer help and homework help. In 2023 we had over 31,000 visits to our website, over 2,000 wifi sessions, and almost 2,500 computer sessions. Adult services staff answered approximately 13,000 questions. We also added 308 new cardholders.

Outreach: the Library staff partners with community members to introduce the public to what the Library has to offer as well as to bring educational and entertaining programming to them. We partner with local organizations like the Patterson rotary to host the community-wide touch-a-truck event in june. We host aarp volunteers to provide free tax help to seniors and low- income individuals from february to april each year. We feature local artists' displays in our community room. We collect items for the Patterson food pantry, putnam humane society, vet 2 vet veteran's organization, and the putnam community action partnership. The Patterson historical society hosts their annual meeting and quarterly programs at our Library, and the cornell cooperative extension and friends of the great swamp partner with our programmers to host adult and children's environmental programs. Youth services staff conduct visits with preschool, homeschool, and k-12 school classes to introduce literacy concepts and to instruct students on the use of the Library.

Collections and circulation: the Library's collection is comprised of both physical material and downloadable and electronic content. Our physical materials include books, audiobooks, periodicals, dvds, and cds. The downloadable content includes ebooks, audiobooks, films, and various databases. We also have a "Library of things", which consists of museum passes, cakepans, tools, gaming systems, seeds, and hotspots. We also are able to access items from the 66 -member Library mid-hudson Library system, of which we are a part, as well as interlibrary loan items from across the state and country. We had almost 39,000 visitors in 2023 who checked out approximately 54,000 items from these physical and digital collections.

Library services as well as various educational and social programs to enhance the quality of life within the surrounding community.