Lansing library slates trustee, budget meeting, vote

The Lansing Community Library will hold its annual meeting — an opportunity to meet the Board of Trustees candidates, review the proposed budget for 2022 and hear more about library activities — April 26 at 7 p.m. via Zoom.

The vote on the proposed budget and trustees is scheduled for April 27 from noon to 6 p.m. Voting by absentee ballot, available at the library, is encouraged.

While the past year has presented unprecedented challenges to our collective physical and mental health, it has also placed a spotlight on community organizations that have met these challenges with strength and resiliency. The Lansing Community Library (LCL) is one such organization.

The LCL opened its doors in 2001 in response to a growing interest from local residents in local library services. The center started as a designated reading room of the Tompkins County Public Library (TCPL) and was housed in the old Town Hall. In fact, all the books were borrowed from TCPL, and a dedicated volunteer staff ran the entire operation.

Over the next seven years, LCL grew into a public library owned and governed by the Lansing community.

The library has become a well-used and valued community resource. The warm and welcoming staff and interior invites patrons to come in, browse the well-stocked shelves, settle into a comfortable chair or make use of the multiple computer terminals and children’s room. The professional library staff work to design and present program content that is attractive to many different age groups and interests.

When the spread of COVID-19 in New York last March necessitated closing the physical building to patrons, the library staff and Board of Trustees immediately went to work to make sure that library services to the community could continue in a modified form.

Library staff provided outreach to patrons in the early days of the pandemic by placing weekly calls to senior patrons. In some cases, this call might have been the only human contact that the individual had that day.

Because services needed to be provided remotely, library staff updated and expanded the library website. New library cards were issued digitally. Popular Zoom programs include weekly family yoga and story time as well as adult and new reader book clubs. The library was able to initiate curbside pickup for books last June.

While the summer reading program was conducted virtually, library staff collaborated with the summer lunch box program very successfully to provide materials to children. The “Take and Make Craft Kits,” designed for individual and family use, have been immensely popular with patrons and have continued past their initiation last summer.

Libraries are more than books and programs; they are also reliable sources for information. The library staff provided assistance with connecting people with appropriate services, including how to apply for small business loans and unemployment.

The library has also provided resources to assist patrons with homeschooling issues as well as voter registration. A pilot telehealth program that is a collaboration between the library and Cayuga Medical Center will begin this month.

As we begin the gradual return to pre-pandemic life, we are relying on public health officials to guide us in the timetable for fully reopening the library. We hope to welcome patrons back to the building for more in-person hours and activities soon.

Our little library has provided light and warmth to many through these difficult times and can only shine brighter in the coming year.

Please see the library website, www.lansinglibrary.org, for more information.

Elizabeth Gossett is the vice president of the Lansing Community Library’s Board of Trustees

In Brief:

Finger Lakes Independence Center Presents: Emergency Readiness 101

The Finger Lakes Independence Center will present a Zoom seminar on emergency readiness May 5 from 2 to 3 p.m.

Participants will learn:

• How to be prepared in an emergency for up to 72 hours.
• How to prepare to shelter in place or go to a shelter in an emergency.
• How to build and connect with a support system.
• Other considerations and recommended resources.

To register or for more information contact Amy Jo DeKoeyer (amyjo@fliconline.org) or Jeff Boles (jeff@fliconline.org), or call (607) 272-2433.

Correction

Recent revisions in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s fishing regulations to allow trout fishing year round did not include Lansing’s Salmon Creek, as was indicated by last week’s “Lansing at Large” column. Tompkins Weekly regrets the error and any confusion that resulted.