ROCHESTER PUBLIC LIBRARY RECOGNIZED BY MONROE COUNTY LEGISLATURE

RPL CELEBRATES 100 YEARS OF SERVICE 

Representatives from the Rochester Public Library, Rundel Library Foundation and Rochester Public Library Board of Trustees accept a proclamation from the Monroe County Legislature celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Rochester Public Library at the full session meeting on Jan. 11, 2011. 

Rochester, N.Y.--  On January 11, the Monroe County Legislature honored the Rochester Public Library for 100 years of service to the community.  Rochester Public Library and Monroe County Library System Director Patricia Uttaro accepted the proclamation on behalf of the library community.  The Rochester Public Library has one dozen buildings at 11 worksites thoughout the city that employ hundreds of professionals and paraprofessionals who are represented by AFSCME and CSEA.

 

For the past 100 years, the Rochester Public Library has opened its doors to millions of Rochesterians.  The initiated and curious crossed the threshold of the library and found new futures, new opportunities and new horizons within the riches of the Rundel Library Building. At the dawn of the 20th century, Rochester Mayor Hiram Edgerton described the library as the one thing ‘for which posterity will hold us in grateful remembrance.’

 

Today, we celebrate one of the cornerstones of our community by recognizing the library’s century of public service to the city and to the entirety of Monroe County.  And,  as we prepare for the next 100 years, it is painfully obvious that the demand for library services will continue to rise.

Ove Overmyer, CSEA Unit president of the City of Rochester Library Workers says, "We like to think that what makes a good library a great library are its people.  As we look forward to the future, I cannot imagine a more exciting and challenging responsibility than helping create strong libraries that sustain our heritage and culture and connect people to information and new ways of thinking."

 

From the beginning, the mission of RPL has basically remained the same: to predict the needs of the community; to provide a welcoming communal space and to provide open access to information for all the residents of Monroe County.  RPL also enriches the quality of life in Rochester and Monroe County by providing educational, recreational, aesthetic, and informational materials, services, and programs to help people follow their own lines of inquiry and enlightenment.

In 1911, when the library first opened, it offered community members access to the world through books, newspapers, periodicals and our knowledgeable staff. Today these essential services remain, but they have been augmented by the expectations of the 21st century user: e-books, GPS devices, audio books, digitized multimedia content, on-demand video, wireless access and a highly trained and dedicated staff.

Pictured above left to right: Joan Belgiorno (RLF), David Creek (RPL), Ove Overmyer (RPL & CSEA president for the City of Rochester Library Workers Unit 7420) , Patty Uttaro (Director, RPL/MCLS), Monroe County Legislator Mary Valerio (R-3rd District) and RPL Trustee Judy Hall.

(photo by Bess Watts)