The public is invited to explore this exciting new library, get a library card, pick up a free take-and-make craft for the kids, and enjoy some live jazz music.
Initially, the hours for the branch are Monday, Wednesday and Friday: 1 pm to 5 pm and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday: 10 am to 2 pm. Programs will ramp up in the months to come.
The Family Partnership Center building was formerly Poughkeepsie High School and later Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic High School. The new branch will occupy the same space that housed the schools’ libraries. The branch will have a particular focus on early literacy as an important developmental step for children. This new library will be within walking distance of the area’s two elementary schools, Morse and Warring. The original African Roots Library collection that occupied this space is curated through a partnership between the Library Action Committee and the Poughkeepsie Public Library District.
The branch is named in honor of Sadie Peterson Delaney, who attended Poughkeepsie High School and was active in the Smith Metropolitan AME Zion Church. She went on to serve as Chief Librarian at the Veterans Administration Hospital Library in Tuskegee, Alabama, where her work in Bibliotherapy received international attention.