For 50 years, the New Hartford Public Library has served as a place where stories begin, families gather, and generations of residents find connection within their community.
As a proud Mid-York Library System cardholder myself, attending the library’s recent 50th Anniversary celebration felt especially personal. Growing up, my mom regularly brought my brother and I to the library, and like so many local families, some of my earliest memories of reading and learning started there.
The celebration honored not only the library’s history, but the people who built it from the ground up. What began in 1976 as a small library operating out of a converted shower room at the former Point School has grown into one of New Hartford’s most valued community resources.
Executive Director Anne DuRoss reflected on the library’s impact through the lens of her own life story. After moving to New Hartford as a child, she became a regular visitor and later returned with her own daughters for story hours and children’s programming before eventually joining the library staff herself.
“Being able to walk to the library, check out my own books, and walk home alone was huge for me,” DuRoss shared during the celebration.
Now leading the institution that shaped so many of her own memories, DuRoss said she feels fortunate “to work here with the best staff, be supported by amazing trustees and the Mid-York system, and to welcome a wonderful community of readers.”
Board of Trustees President Marie Selvarajah said the library remains “the heart of the community” and continues to grow through expanded programming and outreach while maintaining the welcoming atmosphere generations have come to love.
Today, the New Hartford Public Library circulates more than 100,000 materials annually and hosts hundreds of programs each year, continuing the mission first imagined by a determined group of women who believed their town deserved a library of its own. And here’s to 50 more years of the New Hartford Public Library!
