Escape from Extinction

Before I moved to Pleasant Valley in January 1995, I lived for 28 years in Briarcliff Manor, NY, in Westchester County. The Briarcliff Manor Library was not much--a converted railroad station--but it was popular with local residents who did not want to drive to the much larger libraries in nearby Ossining, Pleasantville, and Chappaqua.  Briarcliff Manor Library was good for recreational reading, but you needed the bigger libraries for anything else.

The shelves at the Briarcliff Library were packed, as the library staff did all it could to meet the needs of the community, given the totally inadequate building.  New York State took a dim view of the overcrowding, however.  The State threatened to take away the library charter, effectively closing the library, if they did not do something to increase their space and upgrade their electronics.

Briarcliff Manor is a town somewhat smaller than Pleasant Valley in population.  When the library board decided to add a two-story extension to the original building, they went to the voters of the town to add the cost to their taxes--$4 million. This would expand the library from 3,200 square feet to 6,700 square feet. The additional tax money was defeated twice before being passed by a vote of 1,433 in favor versus 1,211 against.  This year, the expanded library will open--but another $1 million was needed from donations to finish the upgrading.  Citizens and others have donated $600,000 to the library for completion, so there is still $400,000 to go.

The planned expansion of the Pleasant Valley Free Library is on a slightly larger scale, although the effect of replacing the present stacks with a new two-story addition would similarly double the size of the existing library.  Our library is not being threatened by the State, although we are out of space for adding to the collection or increasing the number of computers. Another difference is that the Board of Trustees is still hoping to raise the money for expansion entirely by donations, not by raising Town taxes.  But the ten-year struggle of Briarcliff Manor to upgrade its library is all too typical of the problems libraries face--everyone can see the need for improved facilities (see the post below this one) but it takes considerable effort to get the needs addressed.