Most of the September 3rd working Town Board meeting was dedicated to outlining the library services the town is providing in an attempt to substitute for the loss of services Union Vale residents are currently experiencing since the Town Board refused to sign a contract with the Mid-Hudson Library System. It is difficult to see how contracting with two companies will replace the ease of using our neighboring libraries and having access to the resources of the Mid-Hudson Library System.
Kathi Wellman, the new Library Services Coordinator described the following services:
Kanopy– each Union Vale household will receive 10 play credits per month with which to rent videos. Most videos are 1-2 credits. Children’s videos are handled differently through Kids Kanopy, and are basically unlimited.
Baker and Taylor– this service will provide audio books, e-readers, bound books, CD’s and DVD’s. Hard copies of items will be requested through Kathi Wellman and will take about 48 hours to ship. Residents will then pick them up at Town Hall. This company will provide access to 7,000 magazines and newspapers. Baker and Taylor offers virtual book clubs and has partnered with Highlights to provide families with access to over 190 eBooks from Highlight’s social emotional bookshelf.
There will also be links on the Town of Union Vale website to the following two resources which are already free and available.
Project Gutenburg– this is a free online library of eBooks, mostly older books and classics. It is available to anyone by visiting the Project Gutenburg website.
New York Public Library– all New York residents may apply for a library card from the New York Public Library and gain access to all their digital resources, as well as physical resources. This is a free resource.
All Union Vale residents will need to apply for a Union Vale library card to access the Kanopy and Baker and Taylor resources. Plans are moving forward to develop plans for a Union Vale Library. Two architects have been contacted and one resident is paying for an inspirational drawing. How the town will fund building and supporting a library in difficult economic times remains unknown.
If you care about maintaining our relationship with our neighboring libraries and if you are impacted by the library restrictions, please let your voice be heard. Contact all town board members and Supervisor Maas.
If you choose, you can send a copy of your letter to: UnionvaleResidentFeedback@gmail.com.
You can also email the committee if you have any questions.