Valley Gives Day was a huge success for non-profits up and down the valley - including Forbes Library. Thank you so much to everyone who donated! We continue to greatly accept donations.

Congratulations to Charles M. Maguire, James Drisko, Michelle Kaskey and Peter Rowe who all won homemade cookies and Maxine Schmidt who won free parking at the library.

“Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.” --Lady Bird Johnson

Forbes Library's doors are open to everyone in the community serving infants through elders. We provide all the traditional library services such as book lending and research assistance but we have evolved with changing times to provide expanded services such as computer and wifi access, programming, and meeting space.

On average 96 people came into the library for every open hour, for a total of 217,675 visits in fiscal year 2012. A high level of City residents are library users, with 57% of the population holding active library cards. The number of items borrowed from the library has increased 19% over last year. The two material types seeing the largest increase in circulation are ebooks (up 376%) and videos (up 68%). Much of the increase in movies being borrowed can be attributed to the Library's acquisition of the Pleasant Street Video collection last summer. Attendance at the library has increased 18% over last year.

All of these increases were managed with level staffing and a reduced number of open hours, including being closed on Saturdays in the summer. We rely on the community to supplement the library's budget. Without strong community support the library is unable to maintain the high level of service that our community needs.