One of New Paltz’s best-loved long-running community gatherings returned last weekend: the Elting Memorial Library Fair. This event has been happening annually for longer than many residents have been alive; this year’s was the 67th, and would have been the 68th had COVID-19 not forced the organizers to skip a year in 2020.
As ever, the fair drew an enthusiastic crowd to the Library’s parking lot on Church Street to browse the thousands of books on offer. The selection — organized by subject area, but otherwise a challenging jumble of titles and authors — covered long tables under an enormous tent, plus a separate second tent just for children’s books. While general fair admission is free, serious bibliophiles could pay $10 for early bird privileges, and a sign in the rare and vintage books section invited them to inquire about volumes too valuable to leave out on display.
Nearest the Library building were arrayed audiobooks, movies on DVD and music CDs, while collectors of vinyl records could delve into an enticing trove of platters. Most unsold items in the book tent were available for half-price on Sunday. This year, book purchasers didn’t need to bring their own bags; the Library was handing out reusable totes imprinted with its logo.
Nearly all the traditional Saturday elements of the Fair that were cut back during the pandemic have returned: There was a food tent, and others devoted to sales of plants, vintage jewelry, toys (including piles of board games), household items and even secondhand musical instruments. Representatives of various community organizations stood behind tables arrayed with literature, ready to chat about such local resources as the Margaret Wade-Lewis Center, the Climate Action Coalition, Repair Café, Lifetime Learning Institute and the New Paltz Rescue Squad.
To raise funds for the Library itself, silent auction items were laid out on two long tables, where some canny bidders were able to take home high-quality artworks for a song. And sales of tickets for the event’s popular raffle went on all day, with winners of 105 donated prizes being drawn and announced at regular intervals. The winner of this year’s Grand Prize, a midweek stay at Mohonk Mountain House, was identified as the Morrison family.
The live acoustic music that fair attendees look forward to on Saturday was back as well. This year’s lineup of performers included Jim Bacon, Steve Raleigh, Dennis Rush, the Dandy Lions, Leslie Abdallah and a “mystery guest” who turned out to be Stephen Bergstein.
On the adjacent section of Church Street, blocked off for Saturday’s activities, youths from the Library’s Teen Advisory Group supervised a special crafts tent for kids. Face-painting was offered for a suggested donation of $1. Youngsters could make their own squishy stress ball or win a small prize by plucking a lollipop off a painted tree.
“There’s been consistent traffic all day,” said Elting Library director Crystal Middleton as Day One of the fair neared its end. She lavished praise on the hundreds of volunteers who turn out each year to make the event happen, including an engaged board of directors and an army of young people from SUNY New Paltz and the high school, who do most of the heavy lifting.
This was Middleton’s first Library Fair here, though she has presided over others in her previous professional life. She took the post of director in late April, following the resignation last November of Gillian Murphy. A Bronx native who moved to High Falls last year, Middleton studied Elementary Education as an undergraduate at SUNY New Paltz, worked in health education at the Randolph School and then went back to graduate school, not once but twice: for a Master’s in Public Administration at Marist College and then an MS in Information Science at SUNY Albany.
Middleton’s posts prior to the Elting Memorial Library have included the Stone Ridge Library, where she was head of the foundation and also worked on the circulation desk; as programming coordinator at the Clinton Community Library in Rhinebeck; and most recently, as head of borrower and technical services in the Poughkeepsie Library District. It’s a diverse background that reflects how radically a library’s function in its community has changed in recent decades. A librarian these days is no longer some prim spinster shelving returned volumes and shushing patrons all day, but a highly trained information specialist. People come to their libraries for all sorts of research assistance and an imaginative array of programming. “Libraries are about information, so it’s not just books,” said Middleton.
While she admits that she’s “still in my learning curve” in New Paltz, the new director has big plans, with “more information literacy” a high priority for future programming. With misinformation and even deliberate disinformation rife in our current high-tech culture, she believes that people would benefit from guidance in “reading, researching and vetting your sources.” She also touted the Library’s formidable historical resources in the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection, which draws researchers from far and wide.
While an ambitious capital campaign for major renovations to the Library building was backburnered during the pandemic, the board has continued to work on long-term goals and strategies. Some repairs are being contemplated in the short term, with an eye toward making services more accessible and the structure itself “more ecologically minded, in terms of heating and cooling. We’re also thinking about making the landscaping more pollinator-friendly.”
A feasibility study has already been conducted, including surveys to assess what the community most wants from its library. “We should have a long-range plan done by the end of this year, which will be our guide for the next three years,” Middleton said. “I figure I’m doing okay, if I just get through this Library Fair.”
The Elting Memorial Library is located at 93 Main Street in downtown New Paltz, open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays. For details on the Library’s diverse offerings, many of which are accessible to Mid-Hudson Library System members online, visit www.eltinglibrary.org.
Join the family! 
