The Williamstown Library was formed by a group of volunteers in 1999 under
the name of the Williamstown Community Reading Room with a ‘grand opening’ in
June 2000.
The children’s room was made possible by a large donation in memory of
Faith Keil Wiggins. For 5-6 years, this library was operated entirely by
unpaid volunteers. In 2005, together with the Parish Library, we were
successful in getting on the APW school ballot for the first time in the
history of the school and it passed. In the spring of 2006, after receiving
the school ballot money ($14,000), the director began receiving compensation
for the first time.
We applied for a charter and on May 23, 2006, it was granted by the NYS
Board of Regents and is now known as the WILLIAMSTOWN LIBRARY. Our two annual
fundraisers are the June book/bake/chicken BBQ sale and the Election Day
dinner in November. We continue to improve our services … the adult fiction
best sellers are on our shelves as soon as they hit the book stores, we offer
public computer use, children and adult programming, a monthly book
club, “Billytown Bookworms” etc.
Our building is put to good use when the library is closed with the monthly
Town Board meetings as well as a meeting place for the weekly TOPS group. We
purchased two new computers, one for the staff office and the other for
public use, a new scanner, copier, printer and DSL was installed on August
24, 2007. Under the Bill & Melinda Gates Grant, a second computer will be
installed in 2008 for public use.
Our continued success is due to NCLS’s fantastic director and staff as well as
the encouragement and help we have received from member libraries with books,
furniture, etc. The public bathroom was renovated in the spring of 2008.
Our community has been very supportive in all that we do and
we look forward to further improvements in the future. |