Throughout the year the Library continued to provide service in a variety of ways. We monitored CDC recommendations and adjusted with them to protect our community and staff. When we were not open for the public we started curbside pickup early in the year and kept it available for anyone that wanted it. We continue to offer delivery service and book drop off service at Coffee Fever in Star Lake.

During the year we have kept track of our circulation numbers and can confirm that community engagement is increasing. Below is a snapshot of total transactions (number of items checked out) from January to November of 2021.  

Jan 21Feb 21Mar 21Apr 21May 21Jun 21Jul 21Aug 21Sep 21Oct 21Nov 21
928698121154267478435264272216

New things we have implemented this year:

  • We have rolled out a new version of our website.
  • A book drop was placed in the Cranberry Lake Post Office.
  • Starting in the summer we had “Slow Signs” and Cranberry Lake 50 maps for sale. We began a pay pal account, posted map availability on Cranberry Lake 50 Facebook Page & were able to mail maps to visiting patrons prior to their trip.
  • We started a monthly rotating display of books with different themes.
  • This summer the Cranberry Lake Boat Club hosted the annual Poker Paddle to benefit our Children’s book subscription. They raised over $1,890!
  • The Friends of the Library had a very successful annual book sale and hosted two concerts. Between the two concerts there was about 150 attendees!
  • Grab & Go Kits were made available at the library & at Coffee Fever in Star Lake. These are free craft kits for children that include everything needed to complete them. We had three different kits during the summer months and a fourth kit around the Thanksgiving holiday. We gave out a total of 168 kits over the summer & have received lots of positive feedback on them!
  • This summer StoryWalks® were set up around the Clifton Community Pavilion & tennis courts that families could walk around & read together. These laminated pages from children’s picture books encourage literacy & physical activity for families.  The library had four different StoryWalks® with a total attendance of more than 125 people.
  • We visited the Clifton-Fine Central School District’s Extended Year Program in August and distributed more than 70 books to 25 students along with craft kits.
  • We started a new DVD program to get more new releases to our customers. This included 60 DVDs that circulated 245 separate times.
  • We started buying new Audiobooks, called Playaways, that are preloaded on a single battery operated device. These became available for checkout early December and the three Playaways have been checked out a total of 8 times so far.
  • We have also changed our hours to better reflect our community’s needs.  From Memorial Day-Columbus Day we will be open Mondays-Saturdays with two evening hours on Wednesdays. From Columbus Day-Memorial Day we will be open Tuesday-Saturdays with one evening hour on Wednesdays.
  • After the new year we will also be reorganizing the library and putting in more shelving units to have room to increase our collection. When we are finished we’ll have about twelve more feet of bookshelves and a public area to sit and relax.   
  • We’ve also started reaching out to groups and speakers to set up more programs for 2022. We have started talking to customers about what they would like to see more of in the library.

If there is anything you would be interested in seeing Clifton Community Library do or offer in the future, please reach out!

We look forward to seeing everyone in 2022!