News

September 21, 2022

Florida Public Library Wins Award

At the Ramapo Catskill Library System’s Annual Meeting on September 16, the Florida Public Library was announced as the winner of the 2022 RCLS Member Library Adult Program of the Year for its Helping Our Community Through Repair & Upcycling program. The library’s winning program was part of the American Library Association (ALA) Libraries’ Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries initiative that helps library workers better serve their small and rural communities.

The library used this initiative to conduct conversations with the community on the topic of repairing and upcycling broken household items to keep them out of landfills and help preserve the local environment. Representatives from the library’s Board of Trustees, the Warwick Repair Café, Sustainable Warwick and other community organizations joined in the conversations. The discussions led to the purchase of a variety of new items for FPL’s Library of Things that can be used for repairs, such as a portable Sewing Machine, electric knife sharpener, portable work table and more. The Library also hosted three programs to help people learn how to make certain repairs on their own. These programs were taught by members of the Repair Café who generously donated their time. “The community was very supportive of this project and about the new items in our Library of Things. We also gained a valuable community partner with the Warwick Repair Café who continue to borrow items from our Library of Things,” stated Library Director Meg Sgombick.

Following the Awards Presentation, Diane Arcieri, FPL board member was re-elected to the RCLS Board of Trustees as one of their Orange County representatives. Diane is a longtime local resident, a retired human resources consultant and an active member of the Friends of Florida Public Library.

For more information about the library and its Library of Things, please visit www.floridapubliclibrary.org or call (845) 651-7659. The library is located at 4 Cohen Circle in the Village of Florida.

Click Here to View our Summary Video which details the specific events and materials acquired and provided as a part of this program.

 

May 13, 2021

A New Chapter at Florida Public Library

The Board of Trustees of the Florida Public Library is pleased to announce the appointment of Meg Sgombick as Director to succeed Madelyn Folino who is retiring at month’s end after 23 years leading the library. Sgombick, who has worked at FPL since 2009, has held a variety of positions from Library Clerk to Library Assistant (Children’s Services) to being in charge of purchasing, publicity and social media for the last five years. She is a longtime resident of Florida and is well-known for her many community activities, serving as PTA president, Girl Scout leader and unit coordinator for Florida. She also served five years on the local school board. She is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and with husband, John, is the parent of five children: three college graduates, one college student and one high school student.

Sgombick was the first co-recipient of the New York Library Association’s Enos Conference Scholarship, named in honor of Randall Enos, longtime Youth Services Coordinator for the Ramapo Catskill Library System. She is currently in NYLA’s 2021 Developing Leaders Program which is limited to 30 participants each year, selected from across New York State. NYLA provides almost 40 hours of training for leaders chosen for the competitive program. She also volunteers for NYLA’s Friends of Libraries section, serving as Marketing Coordinator.

Madelyn Folino was recruited to FPL in 1997 to provide regular children’s programming which she did for a year before being appointed Director. During her tenure, the library moved from an office trailer in which it was housed after a flood of its rented quarters on Bridge St., to its first permanent home at 4 Cohen Circle. She then became FPL’s first full-time Director. Florida has won five Program of the Year Awards from RCLS and numerous ALA, NEA and NEH grants under her leadership. She was honored with NYLA’s Moshier/Wynkoop Award for Distinguished Librarianship in 2003, followed by NYLA’s Intellectual Freedom Award for defense of the First Amendment in 2004.

Before coming to FPL, she was a professional storyteller and writer and initiated the founding of the library’s Black Dirt Storytelling Guild in 2001. She has been a frequent volunteer in local schools, telling stories to all ages to promote literacy, history and culture and has also spoken on intellectual freedom issues, including at her alma mater, Mount Saint Mary College. She met her husband, Ross, a Warwick native, in graduate school and they have lived in Pine Island for 40 years.

“Meg has been my right arm for the last five years and involved in every one of our many programs and services, so she is a natural to be Director” said Folino. “Our staff has always excelled at teamwork and customer service and Meg is already a trusted team leader. In my retirement, I expect to hear many great stories of continued success at FPL.” Folino looks forward to more of everything in retirement: more reading, more writing of book reviews, more gardening, more storytelling and more visits with her four children and seven grandchildren. She said “My time at FPL has been the job of a lifetime. I would highly recommend working in the public library to anyone. My childhood librarian told me that I would work in the library someday, but I didn’t believe her. Then I fell into the library world 30 years ago by inquiring about a Help Wanted ad and feel immensely lucky to have had that idle question turn into such a challenging, rewarding and busy career.”

 

 

April 22, 2021

Florida Public Library Receives National Grant for Small and Rural Libraries

Florida Public Library has been selected as one of 300 libraries to participate in Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries, an American Library Association (ALA) initiative that helps library workers better serve their small and rural communities. The competitive award comes with a $3,000 grant.

The library, in partnership with Sustainable Warwick and the Warwick Repair Cafe, will be using these grant funds to conduct a conversation with the community on the topic of repairing and upcycling broken household items to keep them out of landfills and help preserve the local environment. “We are so proud to be chosen for this amazing opportunity,” said Library Director Madelyn Folino. “Our hope is to expand our Library of Things with tools and materials people can use to give their old or broken items new life, with the Repair Cafe providing expertise for those who are unsure how to go about such a project.”

The library recently acquired and made available for borrowing a Library of Things, a collection of useful items that members of the community might need on occasion but may not have the means or desire to spend money to purchase. This includes cooking supplies, electronics, video & board games, knitting kits, gardening supplies, and more. Most notable in FPL’s Library of Things is a Tool Library, containing a wide range of tools that community members can borrow for repairs or projects around the house.

Since 2014, ALA’s Libraries Transforming Communities initiative has re-imagined the role libraries play in supporting communities. Libraries of all types have utilized free dialogue and deliberation training and resources to lead community and campus forums; take part in anti-violence activities; provide a space for residents to come together and discuss challenging topics; and have productive conversations with civic leaders, library trustees and staff. Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) in collaboration with the Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL.)

For more information on the grant, please contact Librarian Barron Angell at (845) 651-7659. All items in the Library of Things collection are list on the library’s website at www.floridapubliclibrary.org/library-of-things.

 

December 3, 2020

FPL Opens Library of Things

Items from the Library of Things were displayed on FPL’s deck on a balmy Friday, November 20, and members of the public were invited to drop by to welcome the new collection. ( l to r ) Mayor Dan Harter, Library Director Madelyn Folino, Senator Jen Metzger, and Village Trustee Alyssa Werner were also on hand. Senator Metzger congratulated FPL on having such a unique and valuable collection available for the community to borrow free of charge.

Florida Public Library is pleased to announce the debut of its Library of Things collection. The Library of Things includes a wide variety of useful, entertaining and unusual objects that patrons may need for a project, cannot afford to purchase, don’t have room to store or may just need to use once or occasionally. FPL aims to save Florida residents the cost of purchasing many such items. Senior citizens and new home owners may find the collection of particular use.

Categories include the Tool Library which includes hand tools (hammer, saw, stud finder, rachets, pliers, stapler, clamps, Allen wrenches, grout floater, voltage tester and many more), power tools (drill, circular saw, sander, etc.) and gardening equipment (pruning saw, spade, shovels, rakes, shears, loppers, bow saw, edger and more.) A complete tool box with commonly used tools for home repairs is also available. Stores closed? Forgot that one essential tool that’s needed to finish the project? FPL’s collection is available seven days a week and just might have exactly what you need close at hand.

Other categories include In the Kitchen which offers a 45 cup coffee maker, specialized cake pans, a chocolate melter, a spiralizer, a juicer and more, Entertainment which has littleBits coding kits, Hero and Droid Inventor Kits, board games, card games, ukuleles and more, and Arts and Crafts which includes a pom pom maker, loom kits, a pumpkin carving kit and more. The Miscellaneous category includes recreational equipment such as adult and child fishing poles and tackle, a 10’ x 10’ pop-up canopy and more.

All items are free for borrowing by Florida cardholders in good standing who are a minimum of 18 years old. Check outs are limited to a total of two items and may be kept for seven days. To check items out, patrons must sign the Borrower’s Agreement and Use Policy and a Waiver and Indemnification Form. Photos and descriptions of all items are available on FPL’s website at www.floridapubliclibrary.org and they may be reserved up to three days before check out.

Library Director Madelyn Folino said “We are excited to offer the Library of Things to our patrons, free, just the same as any traditional library collection and we hope it brings new faces to FPL to explore all we have to offer. We are pleased to partner with two well-known and historic local businesses: Roe Brothers, Inc. and Werner’s ACE to make this collection a reality. Scott Bieling at Roe’s and Alyssa Werner at Werner’s have been most helpful in getting this project off the ground with their advice and they saved us money with discounts, too.”

Funds for the Library of Things were provided by special legislative aid in 2019 directed to the library by State Senator Jen Metzger for programs or equipment and by a generous donation from Marc and Victoria Appel of Warwick. The library staff also raised money through their annual Anything But Books yard sale in May and asked that it be used for the new collection. Early support was also provided by the Friends of the FPL. Staff have been busy figuring out how to barcode, label, store and circulate so many objects of varying sizes. The Library’s full basement has come in handy for storing the items in locked steel cabinets.

In addition to offering the Library of Things, program planners devoted many fall program sessions to using items in the collection to build, make, invent and discover for preschool to adult ages. Volunteers are now being recruited to do presentations on how to use tools, kitchen gadgets, arts and craft items and more. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, in-person programs are likely to be rare for the immediate future, but library staff are eager to record how-to programs for online viewing. To volunteer, or if you have a suggestion for a fabulous addition to the Library of Things, please email fpl@rcls.org or call the library at (845) 651-7659. Click here to view the Library of Things Waiver & Borrower’s Agreement.

 

 

December 2, 2020

FPL Installs StoryWalk® at Golden Hill School

Florida Public Library is pleased to announce the installation of a StoryWalk® at Golden Hill Elementary School located at 478 Round Hill Road in Florida. StoryWalk® is an innovative and delightful way for children and adults to enjoy reading and the outdoors at the same time. Laminated pages from a children’s book are attached to wooden posts, which are installed along an outdoor path. As walkers stroll down the trail, they are directed to the next page in the story. StoryWalk® was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT and developed with the help of Rachel Senechal, Kellogg-Hubbard Library. StoryWalks® have been installed in 50 states and 13 countries including Germany, Canada, England, Bermuda, Russia, Malaysia, Pakistan and South Korea.

Located along a section of the cross-country course behind the elementary school, FPL’s StoryWalk® consists of fifteen 4” by 4” wood posts displaying laminated pages of a picture book. Florida’s StoryWalk® kicked off with a very special book, S is for Suplex, illustrated by Golden Hill’s own art teacher, Nick Camia. Currently on display is A Special Christmas Tree by Florida resident and author Ed Finnerty that celebrates last year’s Rockefeller Center tree which was provided by a Florida family. The library will continue to change the stories and hopes to have student artwork displayed throughout the year. Local contractor Bob Verblaauw donated his services, as well as some of the materials needed, and he and a group of teen volunteers were responsible for the installation of the project.

“We very much appreciate Mr. Verblaauw’s supervision of this project and his generous donation of labor and materials” said library director Madelyn Folino. “The StoryWalk® is yet one more way that the library is meeting Florida residents out in the community. This completes the trio of outreach efforts we organized this fall.” Other recent FPL projects included the placement of two Little Free Libraries on Main St. and the debut of a Library of Things which offers patrons a wide range of useful, unusual and entertaining objects to borrow. Residents are invited to visit the StoryWalk® on the weekends and when school is not in session. For more information, call the library at (845) 651-7659.

 

 

April 29, 2020

Florida’s Little Free Library Has Books To Go

Got books? Little Free Libraries do and five of them are located in the Town of Warwick. According to the Little Free Library website littlefreelibrary.org there is one in the Village of Warwick, one in the Town, two in the hamlet of Pine Island and one in the Village of Florida. The Little Free Library movement prompts individuals and community organizations to install small book depositories with books free for the public to take with the motto “Take a book, leave a book.” Some Little Free Libraries are little more than a couple shelves protected from the weather. Others are wildly extravagant and custom, colorful creations dedicated to a theme, genre or historical building and constructed with loving detail. Registered and recognized Little Free Libraries can be found on the official website’s global map along with their latitude and longitude and information on their registered stewards. Little Free Libraries are helping to minimize the pain that readers of all ages are feeling now that public libraries are closed due to the Covid-19 coronavirus.

There are fourteen Little Free Libraries listed for Orange County, some maintained by individuals at their homes and others maintained in public locations by Scout or 4-H groups. Number 39953, the fifth Little Free Library in the county, is located at Roe Brothers, Inc. at 65 Maple Avenue in Florida and is the only area Little Free Library installed and maintained by a public library. Since 2016, the Florida Public Library, in partnership with Roe Brothers, a family-owned hardware and lumber business, has stocked and maintained the library on the store’s front porch. The library was designed and built by the FPL Tween Club under the supervision of adult volunteers and was installed in time for Roe Brother’s 130^th anniversary. Its design echoes the store’s renovated board and batten architecture and features a copper roof made by Roe descendant Tim Bieling, one of the current owners of the store. Two comfortable rocking chairs bracket the library on the store’s front porch and the free selection of books is available 24/7 in a central village location handy for walkers and drivers.

FPL circulation supervisor, Ashley Baroch, usually seen behind the front desk, busily checking library materials in and out and offering suggestions on what to read next, has been stocking the library’s miniature location regularly with books for all ages due to the current high demand. Since Governor Cuomo’s stay at home order in mid-March, Ashley has refilled the Little Free Library seven times with freshly cleaned books. Although the Little Free Library motto usually invites donations, she asks that during these days of quarantine, the motto be changed to “Take a book, leave none.” Due to the cancellation of the April and May Friends of the FPL used book sales, the library has an abundance of donated books in good condition to share and is not taking book donations during the closure. Ashley promises to keep the Little Free Library full with a variety of good choices. For desperate readers in search of their favorite author or genre, Ashley will try to find the perfect book and leave it for you. You can reach her by emailing fpl@rcls.org or by leaving a message at (845) 651-7659. Are you already visiting the Florida Public Library’s Little Free Library at Roe Brothers? Reach out and let us know. Email your pictures to fpl@rcls.org or tag Florida Public Library on your Facebook and/or Instagram posts.

 

March 11, 2020

Update: 16 more blankets have been completed by participants in the FPL Knitting Circle! To date, the FPL Knitters have completed a total of 1,203 blankets/quilts for Project Linus ~ Congratulations, Knitters!

 

June 25, 2019

Florida Public Library awarded grant for ABCD outreach

This summer, the Florida Public Library will be continuing and reinforcing its partnership with the Agri-Business Child Development (ABCD) Head Start by providing a special grant-funded bilingual outreach program focused on Gardening. This project is supported with funds from the New York State Library’s Family Literacy Library Services Program and these funds were acquired through the Ramapo Catskill Library System. The program will be held on Monday mornings throughout the month of July.

Children’s Library Assistant Maria Martinez will oversee the program, which will focus on the basics of gardening. Included in the program will be hands-on lessons about planting and the chance to plant and tend to their own garden over the course of the summer. They will be provided with child sized tools including rakes, shovels, and wheelbarrows as well as seeds for both vegetables and flowers. Lessons will also include the use of newly purchased bilingual books on gardening which will be used to help teach the children the concepts and skills they will need for the hands-on portions of the program.

 

 

May 14, 2019

Young Florida patron donates earnings to FPL!

Florida patron Faith Sauka recently donated her earnings of $100 from the TREP$ Program to the Florida Public Library. Faith, a 5^th Grader from Golden Hill Elementary School, made and sold string art.

TREP$, short for enTREPreneur$, is a project-based learning program that teaches kids in grades 4-8 how to start their own businesses. They learn the lessons in afterschool workshops, and apply them at home as they build their businesses with the support of their families. On March 14, 2019, the student entrepreneurs launched their businesses at Golden Hill’s TREP$ Marketplace.

Pictured are Library Clerk Beth Verblaauw, and Faith Sauka along with a sample of Faith’s string art.

 

 

October 11, 2018

60^th Anniversary for the Florida Public Library

The FPL Board of Trustees would like to thank everyone who helped make our 60^th Anniversary Fundraiser on September 29^th a success. A special thank you to Glenmere Brewing Company in Florida for providing the venue, the music of guitarist Jim Coleman and an irresistible assortment of craft beers. The delicious array of finger foods and sweet treats were courtesy of local restaurants that include El Azteca Mexican Restaurant, Edenville General Store, Hillcrest Grille, Latino Market and Restaurant, Florida Bakery & Deli, and Shop Rite of Chester. All the prizes and baskets for the drawing were donated by local businesses including Authentic Antique Lumber, Bellezza Hair Salon, bp Sports Memorabilia, Carvel, Chrome Salon, The Computer Guy, Copper Bottom, Country Saab, Down2Earth, FPS Sports Apparel, Frank’s Liquors, Henry’s Deli and Cafe, Hair Craft, Janet’s Quality Baked Goods, KayRa Jewelry Designs, Tom Kelemen Photography, Laundry Shak, Ming Hing Restaurant, Moonstone Melody, Northern Bear Pet and Food Supplies, Orange County Sports Club, Pennyroyal Tattoo, Pizza Express, Psychic Cyndee, Random Acts of Consignment, Roe Brothers Lumber, Rookies, Jimmy Sturr Entertainment, S&SO Produce, Tin Lune, Werner’s True Value and Wine Time. We also received many donations from local businesses which are listed in our Anniversary Newsletter – thank you for your support! And a special thanks to FPL staff for all their help. Also, sincere appreciation to County Legislator Paul Ruszkiewicz who presented the Library with a Certificate of Recognition and supports county funding for public libraries. And finally, a heartfelt thank you to the community who came out to support the Library and its future in Florida.

Sincerely,
William Kelemen, President
Board of Trustees of the Florida Public Library

 

 

September 22, 2018

September 22, 2017

Florida Public Library Wins Award

At the Ramapo Catskill Library System’s Annual Legislative Breakfast at Bear Mountain Inn on September 15, the Florida Public Library was announced as the winner of the 2017 RCLS Member Library Adult Program of the Year for its Door to Door Outreach Campaign. The award, an engraved plaque and a check for $500, was presented to FPL director Madelyn Folino by Assemblyman Karl Brabenec.

Click here to read the full story.