Head Librarian Laura Eckley, representing the Larchmont Library, was our April 28th guest speaker at the Larchmont Yacht Club. She gave us an update on changes and programs at the library.
After an introduction by Club President Lester Nathan, Laura began by describing the recent building renovations, which had to be closed for two months. One of the objectives was making the building more ecologically sound. As a result, the facility became more geared towards its on-line assets.
The library’s collection contains about 75,000 items, of which 68,000 are books; roughly half the collection is now made up of digitized books. Its audio books are being phased out.
The full-time staff numbers 14 people and the building is open seven days a week, except during the summer. “In general, the local community is a joy to work with,” she said.
Laura stated that a really big change has been in the access to the library’s programs. Virtual meetings have replaced many in-person meetings. Also, the library recently launched a new website, which contains many pages of useful information.
She went on to discuss the library’s budget, of which 42% of its funds comes from the village and the remaining 58% from the town.
The big topic of the day, which you may have heard about on the news, is “challenges to books,” i.e. the appropriateness of having a book in the library’s collection. The current policy allows only a Larchmont resident or library cardholder to challenge a book; to-date, no books have been formally challenged.
Laura took several questions from the audience.
The meeting concluded with the induction of our newest member, Shelley Blaufeux, a certified public accountant at the local firm Continuum. President Lester Nathan and Membership Chair Michael Gedigt conducted the ceremony.
