“Every patron their library, every library their patron.”

That’s how Cole Library Public Library director Grace Chamberlain Rowray views the library in the community and their collection.

Rowray gave some history of the Cole Library, one of the only remaining private college and public library hybrids that still exists.

The original college library was managed by Dr. Stephen Fellows at the top of Old Sem. Dr. William Fletcher King took over conservatorship of the library in 1862, which at that time consisted of 50 library volumes.

By 1870, that had expanded to 4,000 volumes, and in 1875 Cornell students were able to check out those books instead of just reading them in Old Seminary, where that collection was housed.

In 1880, the library was housed at King Chapel for a period of time, and then moved back to Old Sem in 1891.

In 1893, the library hired May Lavinia Fairbanks as a librarian.

The Carnegie Library that would later house the Cornell College collection was funded in March of 1901, and the cornerstone for the building was laid in 1904, with the building completed and dedicated Sept. 13, 1905.

The library was built when Cornell’s library housed 26,000 volumes, with the ability to house 70,000 volumes in the future.

From 1905-1913, the library was used primarily for quiet academic use, but as Rowray explained, in 1914 extended hours were held where conversation on books were held in the evening.

By 1920, the collection had grown to more than 48,000 volumes, and in 1925 to 1935, patron use doubled.

In 1955, Russell D. Cole expanded plans for a new addition to a whole library/student social center.

In 1956, construction began and the Cole Library was completed in 1957, with volunteers and campus members helping to transfer books from the Old Sem to the new Cole Library via book chain.

When the library first began, the children’s reading room and collection was housed on the third floor of Cole Library, when the first floor remained as the student social center.

In the 1990s was when the next big renovation came following the construction of the Thomas Commons building. The student center moved to Thomas Commons, and the public library space relocated to first floor of Cole Library.

Cathy Boggs and Jean Dunham were influential in the Cole Library it is today. Boggs was director of the public library from 2001 until 2022.

Dunham was Cornell Library director from 2000 to 2009 and drafted the public ordinance that established the funding streams for the public library from the city and state.

Cole Library, Rowray said, serves as a free third space for many people, and houses a wide physical and e-resources collection.

Rowray also said the library has a number of programs for citizens including six book groups, story time, LEGO club, yarn squad, matinee movie, Bridge group and special programs like visiting speakers, spring and fall book talks, master gardener talks, summer reading program, winter reading program and a puzzle swap.

Other programs include designated delivery programs for daycares and Cherry Ridge Readers.

During question and answer, someone asked what was the difference of the early collection and what is housed at the library now.

“In the early years, many of the books housed were either classic literature or academic literature,” Rowray said. “In the 1910s/1920s is when more recreational fiction is purchased.”

One of the other changes has been the funding streams have changed. The public library staff is supported by funding from the city and county now.

“We’re still a collaborative library, and patrons are able to check out anything in either the public or college collection, we just have increased funding from the library,” Rowray said.

As for changes that Rowray sees in the future – she said increasing staffing for the library would help increase services provided to the community.

“That is a big ask for us, but it would provide more outreach and ability to collaborate with different entities in the community,” Rowray said. “I would love to see the library out in the community more.”

The library is also working on their five-year fiscal plan.

One of the challenges recently is that many of the films offered on streaming services are not being made available on physical media.

“That means some of those series that come highly recommended are not available at your local library,” Rowray said.

And if people have heard about Baker and Taylor’s sudden closure, Cole Library was impacted by that as well.

“We had been using Baker and Taylor for a number of our physical collection,” Rowray said. “They beat out prices of so many distributors, that it made sense.”

But when books hadn’t been arriving as promptly as they had in the past this summer, the library knew something was up.

“It’s effecting our shipments of books as we wait for some of the orders we have to be canceled before we buy from somewhere else,” Rowray said. “It’s going to impact us moving forward, as we look for another distributor.”

Also impacting the library have been the federal cuts, which have eliminated some of the resources patrons used, like Brainfuse. The funding from the Institute of Libraries and Museum Sciences at the federal level also helped fund items like interlibrary loan or courier services the libraries use.

“That’s why books you borrow from Interlibrary Loan take longer to arrive, as we’re down to one day a week,” Rowray said. “Most of the public library budget comes from state or city funding, so we haven’t had a terrible impact, but there’s been some. A lot of the liaisons we had at the state library office are no longer there because they were funded by federal funds.”