The Tompkins County Public Library (TCPL) is the largest public library in the Finger Lakes Area. Along with other members of the Finger Lakes Library System, TCPL receives generous funding from the Friends of the Library program. Despite its temporary closure for renovations, TCPL stands as a prominent figure in the City of Ithaca New York.
Who are the Friends?
The Friends of the Library program is an organization local to Ithaca that supports the Finger Lakes Library System (FLLS) financially and through book donations. Kathryn Weinberg, assistant book sale coordinator, said that she loves the contributions Friends make to the community.
“Libraries in the last ten years have started to reimagine ways in which they are useful to the community,” Wineburg said. “I don’t know all those ways, but I know libraries were tremendously important to me when I was growing up… reading was very important to me and I want other people to have that and experience that.”
Wineburg said she joined Friends of the Library in 2014 as a volunteer after looking to work with organizations supporting literacy and accessibility to books.
“I got to Ithaca 13 years ago and I was looking for volunteer jobs,” Wineburg said. “I did a little bit with some other reading related [organizations] and I found out about [Friends of the Library]. It was a perfect fit.”
Volunteers at Friends of the Library take on the primary responsibility of sorting books. Friends of the Library open their doors to receive donations for several weeks leading to their biannual sale taking place in the fall and spring.
“That’s the most fun job imaginable,” Wineburg said. “You get to handle all these books on weird stuff and decide where they go.”
Friends of the Library receives thousands of books every year and has over 70 categories to place their books in. Following the book sales, Friends of the Library puts the funds raised toward library grants, scholarships and community grants.
TCPL’s modern take on libraries
Leslie Tabor entered the role of Tompkins County Public Library director in Nov. 2022. Tabor said that libraries are an important space for a community because there is no expectation of a monetary transaction to utilize the space or its services.
“I am very passionate about public libraries and I love that we are no longer stuffy, quiet book repositories but we are essential, thriving, busy community centers,” Tabor said. “I think you’d be hard-pressed to find another government department or agency that interacts with more of our constituency on a daily basis than a public library.”
Aside from providing a plethora of books to the community, TCPL offers video game devices, laptops, hotspots and e-book and audio book subscriptions. Tabor said that TCPL offers programming to assist people with media literacy and wants to be flexible and responsive to what people want and need.
“We strive to have something for everyone because public libraries are for everyone,” Tabor said. “We support literacy from birth to forever, but we also understand that the world is changing… we are here to educate but we’re also here to entertain, there’s value in that in a society.”
TCPL closure
TCPL is temporarily closed from Sept. 15 to Oct. 2 as the building is under construction to repair the heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) system. While its doors are closed, Tabor said that library card holders are encouraged to use TCPL’s online resources and visit the other libraries of FLLS.
FLLS covers five counties and has 33 member libraries. If someone has a library card with any FLLS library, it works at all 33 member libraries. Tabor said that the book drop windows at the front of TCPL will remain open 24/7 for the two week closure.
“We are incredibly grateful to Tompkins County and specifically their facilities and maintenance department for taking such good care of us,” Tabor said. “We’re really excited about these upgrades, which will make the building greener and more sustainable and improve operations.”
Tabor said that TCPL is grateful for the contributions that Friends of the Library makes to the community and to the library’s collection.
“I would put our Friends of the Library against any other organization in the country,” Tabor said. “I’ve worked in many libraries, and our Friends are the gold standard… It’s the stuff of legend.”
