Cynthia Brewster

Keene Public Library

The Keene Public Library is a small but energetic library in a small but vibrant town of 23,281. We are located in Cheshire County, with a county population of 76,596 people. We are home to a local university, Keene State College, which provides to us many of our patrons and interns. The Keene Public Library -- originally built as a home—officially opened in 1898 to serve as an education, cultural, and social center where citizens of all walks of life could come together and learn. From the very beginning, we have been a vital source of information and innovation. Today more than four thousand people a week come through our doors, that 2/3 of our population of are active library users. The Friends of the Keene Public Library, a non-profit established in 1980 with the purpose of supporting the Library and staff in areas not funded by the City budget. For many years, the Friends have provided funds allowing us to offer new programs and are very supportive of this project. As of last year, we hosted a total of 1,866 events. Over half of that were library programs, totaling in 952, the rest where 864 events and meeting of community groups, as well as fifty city meetings. Our total event attendance is 24,670—we've had as much as 14,216 people at our library sponsored programs, 9,743 people at our community programs, and as much as 700 at our city meetings. Our programs vary between children's programs, teen programs, adult programs and library outreach designed to reach everyone in the community. Our staff includes nine full-time and 19 part-time employees. As of last year, we have had 17,615 registered borrowers who checked out 229,837 items. We are open 61 hours a week in the summer and 65 in the winter.