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Saturday- 10:30-3:30 Sunday- CLOSED Monday- 9:30-5:30 Tuesday- CLOSED Have a happy and safe Independence Day!
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The Summer Reading Program is BACK! This year's theme, "Build a Better World", is about making the world a better place through reading. We will have fun incentives and events to get your children excited about reading this summer.? Participating children receive a prize for every 5 books they read. Starts June 21st
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Some of our exciting events planned for this week include: -Amnesty for overdue books all week long! -Library Week Themed "Wiggles & Giggles" April 12th @ 1:30 PM -"Hemingway's Paris" A guest speaker will come in to give an illustrated talk on Ernest Hemingway's life in Paris. April 15th @ 1:30 PM Stop by today to receive a special Library Week themed bookmark designed by the children of The Purchase Children's Center!
tags:National Library Week is coming this April! Sign up for our mailing list, we will be sending out program and event information for NLW soon!
tags:Did you know the Purchase Free Library now offers discount cards to the Maritime Aquarium? Ask us how you could sign one out today!
tags:The Purchase Free Library will be closed Monday, January 16th for Martin Luther King Day.
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Holiday Hours: Saturday: December 24th OPEN Sunday: December 25th CLOSED Monday: December 26th CLOSED ------------- Saturday: December 31st OPEN Sunday: January 1st CLOSED Monday: January 2nd CLOSED
tags:The library will be opening at 12PM today. Any items due today can be returned Monday without a late charge. We apologize for any inconvenience. Stay safe and warm! :)
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The Purchase Free Library will be closed tomorrow, November 11th, in observance of Veteran's Day.
tags:Hours for the holiday weekend: Saturday 10:30-3:30 Sunday Closed Monday Closed Have a happy and safe holiday weekend everyone!
tags:Hours for the holiday weekend: Saturday 10:30-3:30 Sunday Closed Monday Closed Have a happy and safe holiday weekend everyone!
tags:The Purchase Free Library Board of Trustees will be holding a meeting on June 22nd at 5:30 PM at the library. This meeting is open to the public.
tags:Any items that were due over the weekend can be returned today without any fines. If you are unable make it in today please contact us. 914-948-0550
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Due to construction, the Purchase Free Library will be closed Saturday June 11th. We apologize for the inconvenience. ***Items due that day can be dropped off in the drop box. If the item is too big for the slot, bring it in the following Monday and we will forgive any fines on that item.***
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Learn about estate planning and have some of you financial questions answered at the Purchase Free Library. Former vice president at JP Morgan, Ken Stuart, will be discussing estate planning and more Wednesday June 22nd. ​Submit any questions you might have for Mr. Stuart!​ ​​Space is limited please RSVP by email or phone at PFL@wlsmail.org or 9147-948-0550
tags:First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries - school, public, academic and special - participate.
tags:Come learn all you need to know about estate planning from former vice president at JP Morgan, Ken Stuart Friday April 15th at 1:00 PM
tags:The Purchase Free Library Board of Trustees will hold their annual meeting on January 19th at 5:00 PM at the library. This meeting is open to the public.
tags:The Purchase Free Library will be closed Monday October 12th for Columbus Day.
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The beloved Wiggles & Giggles program is back at The Purchase Free Library. Dawny Dew and all her puppet pals will be at the library 9/30, 10/7, & 10/21 at 1:30 PM! See you there!
tags:The Purchase Free Library will be closed Monday September 7th for Labor Day. Have a great long weekend everyone!
tags:The Purchase Free Library Board of Trustees will hold a meeting on Monday July 20th at 4:30 PM at the library. This meeting is open to the community.
tags:The Purchase Free Library will be closed July 3rd and July 4th in observance of Independence day. Any books due on the 3rd or 4th will be checked accordingly.
tags:As you likely know by now, the Purchase Free Library has prevailed in its relentless efforts to remain in the Purchase Community House, its home of 89 years. We are thrilled with this outcome. The community has made their desires known loud and clear: The Library is important to them and they want it to remain where it is. In fact, the official results of the vote do not fully portray the extent of the support we received. While our counted ballots numbered 1066, there were an additional 319 votes cast in our favor which the parties did not need to verify since our lead was so large that those additional votes would not alter the outcome. When counting those votes and the 68 unverified votes that the PCH received, the actual count was 1385 to 768. We want to thank our loyal patrons and supporters for their steadfast commitment to the Purchase Library. Together we faced a great challenge. Our desire to be here to serve the community carried us through the last year and provided the strength of will to continue our efforts during some difficult and uncertain moments. But here we were and here we'll stay. We look forward to welcoming back our patrons and attracting new ones. We are here for all. The Library has been re-invigorated by this challenge and by our success. While it has been emphasized over the last year that we are the smallest library in Westchester County, we believe we are the largest in spirit. With even greater hope for the future of the Purchase Free Library, The Purchase Free Library Board of Trustees Rosanna Spadini Roberta Hoffberg Abby Araten Martha Greenberg Jodi Tse Edie Binhak Roberta Ursaner Stephanie Furtsch
tags:Live Animal Show today May 28th from 3:30-4:30 PM! The Rye Nature Center Outreach Program will present a program that will highlight animals that lay eggs. This program is for children Grades K-4. Please contact the library to sign up. Sponsored by The Friends of The Purchase Free Library
tags:The SPECIAL MEMBER MEETING takes place on Wednesday, April 29 at 7:30 at the Purchase Community House. This is your last chance to vote to save the library!
tags:Please drop off your signed proxy at the Library at 3093 Purchase Street or we'll pick it up from you, if you call us at 948-0550. Thanks for your support!
tags:Tune in to AM 1230 at 5:30pm today for a message from the Purchase Free Library on the Lisa Wexler Show!
tags:Dear Neighbors, We have received new information and it seems that should the Purchase Free Library be forced to close its doors permanently, library service will continue for Purchase residents. The Director of the Westchester Library System just received and communicated to us this information from Albany which led us to this new understanding, and we were pleased to learn that Purchase residents will retain their library borrowing privileges. While this is certainly a positive development, we cannot lose sight of how this entire situation began. The Purchase Community House has asserted over the past year and a half that the library poses a threat to the safety of the children participating in its programs and that is simply untrue. In the nearly 90 years it has existed, there has never been an event at the library in which anyone's safety was threatened. The PCH themselves refer to the three "incidents" which occurred during the summer of 2013 as "non-threatening loitering incidents". We have provided the details of these events in a prior communication, and they clearly demonstrate that even calling them "loitering incidents" is a real stretch. But these non-events were seized upon by the Board and Director of the PCH for dubious reasons, but with what we believe was the intention to use the pretense of safety to justify an otherwise unjustifiable administrative decision. The loss of our local library will impact many in this community, from the elderly all the way down to toddlers. But it is the children who will be most affected. The preschoolers at the Purchase Children's Center who visit the Library several times a week with their class to read books and enjoy storytime. The children attending the PCH afterschool program who until this whole thing began last spring used the library daily to check out books, do their homework, or simply have some quiet time to read. The children who drive by with their parent and ask to stop at the library for "just one book, please". How can we allow false claims to take these moments away from the children? As you know, the very existence of the Purchase Free Library is jeopardized. For the first time in almost 90 years, there is a genuine danger that our beloved library could become a memory, a relic of the past. This is a very serious matter that our heretofore unified community must face. What will be our legacy to our children? Will we come together to act in everyone's best interest to preserve our library - one of the essential components of any community? Please vote in favor of keeping the Purchase Free Library alive. Our current as well as future generations will benefit from our wisdom on this critical issue. With hope, Roberta Hoffberg Abby Araten Rosanna Spadini Martha Greenberg Jodi Tse Roberta Ursaner Edie Binhak Stephanie Furtsch The Purchase Free Library Board of Trustees
tags:Library, community house set ballot language - The Harrison Review By JOHN BRANDI Members of both the Purchase Community House and the Purchase Free Library met for a conference before a judge on Feb. 25 to hash out ballot language ahead of a vote by certain members of the Purchase community to decide if the library stays put. The library has found itself on borrowed time, as its landlord and shared-space tenant, Purchase Community, Inc., wants the institution to leave the premise over what PCI claims are safety concerns, according to James Kelly, director of PCI. The library and the community house have been intertwined with one another for nearly 90 years, occupying the same space and acting as a sort of downtown area for Purchase residents. A lawsuit was filed back in September in Westchester County Supreme Court in White Plains, by Martha Greenberg, president of the library?s board of trustees, and 52 other Purchase-area residents to halt the eviction process. The parties here were calling for a vote by Purchase residents to save the library and change PCI?s bylaws. PCI maintains that safety concerns, stemming from ?non-threatening loitering? incidents in the community house?s parking lot that occurred during the summer of 2013, is the reason the library must go. Kelly said PCI still relies on information provided by ?security experts? that determined the presence of the library represented a ?safety risk.? Both organizations have agreed on the language alerting residents that a vote will take place and the two items that will be on the ballot, according to Kelly. The first ballot initiative asks members, those 21 or older who reside in the Purchase Elementary School district, if the library should remain located at the community house. The second initiative is a vote amending the PCI bylaws to include a provision where any eviction of the library would require a vote of the members and not just an independent action by PCI?s Board of Directors. However, Kelly said a meeting date of when the votes will take place is still unknown. He said PCI will demand ?an exact meeting date? at its next conference before Judge Linda Jamieson on March 16, after press time. Kelly said the library was unable to commit to any of the six dates PCI proposed for April. Furthermore, the director said he hopes to finalize, at the conference later this month, the format and the agenda for the vote. ?We are disappointed that the date was not finalized,? Kelly said. ?We expected that plaintiffs [the library] would have been more prepared for this conference, especially since they requested the postponement from Feb. 4.? PCI, Kelly said, has maintained that both ballot initiatives should be voted down. PCI still maintains that the presence of the library in the community house poses a safety risk, what is believed to be its biggest bone of contention. The community house also offers preschool, day camp and night programs for kids and teens. ?It is disappointing that the library has misled their patrons into believing that the PCH has some alternate use for the space which prompted the decision,? Kelly said. ?Nothing could be further from the truth.? There are 17 people on PCI?s Board of Directors and eight people sit on the library?s board of trustees. Greenberg could not be reached for comment as of press time. CONTACT: johnb@hometwn.com http://harrisonreview.com/library-community-house-set-ballot-language/
tags:Due to inclement weather the Purchase Free Library will be closing at 4:00 PM today.
tags:The Purchase Free Library will be closed today, Thursday March 5th. Any items due today can be returned tomorrow without any late fee. Stay safe and warm everyone!
tags:The Purchase Free Library will be closing at 4:00 PM today. Drive safely everyone!
tags:The Purchase Free Library will be opening at 11:00 AM today.
tags:The library will be closed Monday the 16th for Presidents Day.
tags:The Purchase Free Library will be opening at 11:30 AM today February 9th.
tags:Due to inclement weather the Purchase Free Library will be closed today, Monday February 9th. Drive safely everyone!
tags:Due to inclement weather the Purchase Free Library will be closed today, Tuesday February 2nd. Items due today can be returned tomorrow without a late fee. Stay safe and warm everyone!
tags:The Purchase Free Library will be opening at 11:00 AM tomorrow February 3rd.
tags:Letter: Purchase Library site is ideal Westchester 12:09 a.m. EST January 24, 2015| "The Purchase Community House is trying to evict the Purchase Library, which shares its building. My children attended the Purchase School and often visited the Community House after school. All of the Purchase school kids used the Purchase Library, easily moving from one to the other. The proximity created an ideal situation then ? and it still is. The Community House says that the library could move to a historic site 1.7 miles from the Community House, which I've learned is the old Friends Meeting House at the corner of Purchase and Lake streets. Purchase School students, who are K-5, must be driven to the library if it's so far away on a busy street with no sidewalks, and is 40 percent smaller anyway. Removing the library from the Community House will hinder the students learning to use a library and to complete their homework assignments. And it's certainly more risky for kids to seek information online than to have occasional outsiders set foot on the premises, which is clearly a trumped-up threat. People from beyond Purchase using the tiny library or stopping in the parking lot weren't a danger years ago, and they aren't now. If protecting children is the Community House's goal, they should acknowledge that if there's a risk, it's online. The spurious and fearful rhetoric from the Community House has started a civil war. Surely there can be an agreement that would keep the library where it belongs and let the adults restore friendships. Polly Rothstein Purchase"
tags:The Purchase Free Library Board of Trustees will hold their annual meeting today January 28th at 5:30 PM at the library. This meeting is open to the community. The Library will close 15 minutes earlier in preparation.
tags:Due to the incoming blizzard the Purchase Free Library will be closing at 12:00 PM today, Monday the 26th. We will also be closed tomorrow, Tuesday the 27th. Perfect time to catch up on some reading! Stay warm and safe everyone!
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The Purchase Free Library Board of Trustees will hold their annual meeting on January 28th at 5:30 PM at the library. This meeting is open to the public. The Library will close 15 minutes earlier in preparation.
tags:The Purchase Free Library will be opening at 11:00 AM today, Monday January 12.
tags:Due to the snow, the library will be opening at 10:00 am today. Drive safely everyone.
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By: Mark Lungariello Posted date: January 09, 2015 Residents will decide at a court-ordered meeting whether Purchase?s small library stays as a tenant of the community house on Purchase Street or if safety concerns warrant an eviction. The Purchase Free Library is the smallest library in Westchester County, employing one person full time and occupying an estimated 700 square feet at the Purchase Community House, which also hosts preschool and after-school programs as well as a day camp. Purchase Community Inc., the nonprofit that operates the community house, decided not to renew the library?s lease due to what it called safety concerns and issued an eviction notice in September. Library officials refused to leave, sued the nonprofit and had the backing of the state Supreme Court, which ordered the nonprofit to hold a vote of its full membership on the matter. The entrance to the Purchase Free Library at the Purchase Community House. The entrance to the Purchase Free Library at the Purchase Community House. Rosanna Spadini, a resident and member of the library board of trustees, said the safety concerns were exaggerated after three incidents in 2013 in which police were called due to suspicious visitors. The nonprofit said they couldn?t forcibly remove people due to the library being a public space. ?I haven?t heard anyone say, ?I?m so happy the library is closing; it?s not safe,?? Spadini said. In each of the incidents, she said, the visitors turned out to have benign intentions ? a bicyclist waiting for a riding companion to catch up, a man in a truck looking for Old Oaks Country Club where he had a job interview and a Greenwich woman who was waiting for the library to open. Spadini said it was a mischaracterization to say that a person posing a safety threat couldn?t be removed from the premises. She noted that the Purchase library?s own policies state patrons could be asked to leave for a multitude of reasons, including body odor. After safety became a focus for the nonprofit?s board of directors, the community house hired Strategic Concepts Inc. as a security adviser. The library hired its own consultant, Comprehensive Solutions LLC. Larry Eidelman, a Yorktown police officer with experience working with children and schools, was quoted in court documents filed by the library?s attorney as saying the library ?presents no significant safety of security risk to patrons, staff or the surrounding community.? The stance of the nonprofit has been that the library shouldn?t be treated differently than a tenant in a privately owned building. The library has signed one-year leases since the 1920s shortly after the property was donated by the family of William A. Read, which said the property must always be used as a community house. Although the library isn?t mentioned by name in the agreement, the Read family was involved in its operation and the library was operated by a subcommittee of the community house until the 1960s. Justine Gaeta, president of the nonprofit?s board of directors, sent a letter to members saying that the community house was ?under attack from a small group of supporters of the Purchase Free Library.? She said the decision not to renew the lease did not mean the nonprofit was putting the library out of business. ?We don?t have that authority,? she said. ?It is a fact that there is a beautiful location 1.7 miles down Purchase Street that would welcome the library with open arms.? There are scant options in the Purchase area of the town of Harrison, which is mostly residential with large homes, country clubs and little commercial space of the size that would accommodate the library. The location referred to by the nonprofit is the Quaker Friends House. Spadini said the space there would be 40 percent smaller than the current Purchase library. ?It?s just not possible, unfortunately,? she said. The parties are due in court next month and it is likely a date for the meeting and vote will be scheduled then. It is expected the vote will be set for March. The Purchase library operates independently from the Harrison Library, which has branches in downtown Harrison and West Harrison. http://westfaironline.com/68443/purchase-residents-will-decide-fate-of-library/
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Preschool program with music & stories. Wednesdays @ 1:30 January 28th February 4, 11,& 25 Space is limited - please RSVP Sign up at the Purchase Free Library All programs are free of charge Sponsored by the Friends of the Purchase Free Library
tags:Holiday Hours for the library: Christmas Eve: 9:30-1:30 Christmas Day: Closed New Year's Eve: 9:30-1:30 New Year's Day: Closed
tags:Due to current weather conditions the Purchase Free Library will be closing early today at 2:00 PM Wednesday November 26th. All books placed in the Book Drop after we close will be checked in appropriately. Drive safely everyone and have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!
tags:Check out the most recent article on what's going on at the Purchase Free Library http://westfaironline.com/66954/judge-halts-purchase-free-librarys-eviction/ A state Supreme Court judge has ordered a nonprofit to postpone the eviction of the Purchase Free Library in Harrison as a legal battle continues over the library’s future. The Purchase library is the smallest in Westchester County, employing one person full time and occupying an estimated 700 square feet at the Purchase Community House, which also hosts preschool and after-school programs and a day camp. Purchase Community Inc., the nonprofit that operates the community house, decided not to renew the library’s lease due to what it called safety concerns. An eviction notice was issued in September, but library officials and community members sued the nonprofit, saying it had no right to evict and that the community house and library were inseparable. The entrance to the Purchase Free Library at the Purchase Community House. The entrance to the Purchase Free Library at the Purchase Community House. Judge Linda Jamieson ruled Oct. 28 to stay the eviction and told both parties they needed to come to terms about a special meeting of the nonprofit’s members to be held by Dec. 15. Martha Greenberg, president of the library’s board of trustees, said in a statement that the library and its supporters were grateful for the postponement. “It is unfortunate that the Purchase Community Inc. board has tried to evict the library when there is no broad consensus in the community for such radical action that will alter our community forever,” she said. PCI’s board said the library should be treated no differently than any tenant in a privately owned building. The group said its reason for not renewing the lease was the safety of children, after two incidents involving suspicious men on the property who said they were visiting the library. Justine Gaeta, president of PCI’s board, said the decision not to renew came after months of discussion. “Now a small group of library supporters wants to overturn that decision and change PCI’s corporate purpose to make the library a permanent tenant,” she said. “Such steps have no legal basis and would harm the interests of everyone in the Purchase community.” Since the library is a public space, officials have said, any individual has the right to access the property despite potential risks to children. But according to papers from the library’s attorney, Steven Schoenfeld of the White Plains-based firm DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr LLP, no one has an absolute right to loiter in the parking lot or front of the building. In court documents, the library’s security consultant, Larry Eidelman, a Yorktown police officer with experience working with children and schools, is quoted as saying the library “presents no significant safety or security risk to patrons, staff or the surrounding community.” The library has signed annual leases for the space in the community house, starting at $100 per month in the 1920s with significant increases up to its present $1,800 per month. The library contends its function is tied to the legacy of the building even if that was never expressly stated within its lease. The property was donated by the family of William A. Read, which stipulated the property must always be used as a community house. Although there is no mention of a library in any agreement with the family, Read’s wife and other members of the family were involved with the library. Donald Read, William A. Read’s grandson who now lives in Connecticut, said in a court statement that the eviction of the library would not represent the wishes and legacy of his grandparents. The library was operated by a subcommittee of the PCI board until the 1960s, when management was separated. The library has contended its arrangement with PCI is not a typical landlord-tenant relationship and that the PCI board does not have the right to evict the library, which said it has nowhere to relocate. Supporters gathered 900 signatures in a petition to keep the library open and have since called into question the PCI board’s decision not to renew. Many library supporters are PCI members who now wish to hold a recall election of the nonprofit’s board of directors and reverse the decision at a special meeting – in court documents, the library’s attorney said the board’s re-election was held unscientifically with an informal show of hands of those in attendance. That is the meeting for which the agenda is to be determined by request of the judge by Dec. 15. The Purchase library operates independently of the Harrison Public Library, which has branches in the other two geographic areas of the town: Harrison and West Harrison. Read the library’s response here: http://westfaironline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Amended-Memo-of-Law.pdf Read Donald Read affidavit here: http://westfaironline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Donald-Read-Affidavit.pdf Read Martha Greenberg affidavit here: http://westfaironline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Martha-Greenberg-Affidavit.pdf
tags:Per the most recent court hearing, the special member meeting to save the Purchase Free Library has been postponed to January 2015 or possibly later. We continue to fight to save our library and as always greatly appreciate your support.
tags:The Purchase Free Library will be closed Tuesday November 11th in observance of Veteran's Day. Any books returned in the Book Drop on this day will be checked in for Monday the 10th.
tags:The Purchase Free Library will be closing at 4:30 today, October 30th. Thank you and we apologize for any inconvenience.
tags:Dear All, We thank you for your support of the Purchase Library. We are sending this update to inform you of the status of the litigation to save the Purchase Library, and the demand for a special meeting of the members of The Purchase Community Inc. (PCI), owner of the Purchase Community House (PCH) that is also part of our effort to save the library by having the residents of our community exercise their democratic rights as the members/owners of PCI/PCH. On or about September 3, 2014, PCI filed an eviction action against the library in Harrison Town Court with an initial court appearance expected on September 11 that was subsequently adjourned to September 23. On September 3, 2014, an action was filed on behalf of 50 plaintiffs who are residents of the Purchase area/PCI members and on behalf of the library in NY Supreme Court, Westchester County (White Plains) against PCI, the 17 alleged PCI directors, and PCI Executive Director Jim Kelly to stop the eviction of the library and seek various other relief (e.g., a new PCI board election). Our counsel secured the scheduling of a conference in that action before New York Supreme Court Justice Linda Jamieson for September 18, in anticipation of filing a motion for, among other things, an immediate stay of the PCI town court eviction action and other relief. At the same time, we were waiting for PCI and PCI’s alleged directors to respond as to whether they would allow the special member meeting that 192 members had demanded for October 1, 2014. On September 16, our counsel (Steven Schoenfeld, Esq. of DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr, LLP), along with counsel for PCI, and counsel for the defendant PCI alleged directors and defendant Jim Kelly signed a stipulation pushing back the first appearance in the eviction action so that the library can continue to remain in place and serve our community, and the key terms are as follows: 1. The September 18, 2014 court conference in the New York State Supreme Court action was adjourned until October 28, 2014 at 9:30 a.m. 2. The initial appearance in the Harrison Town Court eviction action was adjourned from September 23, 2014, to November 13, 2014, and The Purchase Free Library’s time to respond in that action was extended until November 6, 2014. 3. Defendants’ time to respond to the verified complaint in the New York State Supreme Court action was extended until October 16, 2014 (the defendants have to answer or make a motion against the complaint). 4. PCI agreed that the demand for a special meeting signed by 192 of us and our neighbors is a valid request for a special meeting of PCI’s members, and PCI will comply with that request and call the special meeting with due notice to PCI’s members, but the parties to the lawsuit agreed that the special meeting shall be called and noticed by PCI for the evening of November 12, 2014, instead of October 1, 2014. PLEASE MARK NOVEMBER 12 ON YOUR CALENDAR FOR THE MEMBER MEETING IF YOU WISH TO ATTEND AND CONTACT US IF YOU DO NOT THINK YOU CAN ATTEND. Part of the reason for pushing back some of the dates was to permit the parties to talk without immediate litigation deadlines. We are going to pursue settlement negotiations with the defendants in good faith to see if we can reach an amicable resolution of the matters facing our community that would save the library and keep it in the Community House and avoid further litigation among members of our community. However, we caution that it is not clear that any settlement can be reached and we remain prepared to pursue our legal rights in court, through the member meeting on November 12, 2014 and otherwise. Warm regards, Martha Greenberg Rosanna Spadini Roberta Hoffberg Abby Araten
tags:October 1st special meeting of the Purchase Community Inc. is postponed until November 12. The PCI will notify members of the time and place.
tags:As many of you are aware, the Board of Directors of the Purchase Community Inc (PCI) started proceedings on July 31, 2014 to evict the Purchase Free Library from its home in the community house, a place that it has held since the inception of the library, over 88 years ago. In April, the Board of Trustees of the library retained legal counsel and the library along with 50 other Purchase Community Inc. members are now litigating the matter against the PCI Board and Director. Many library supporters have asked what they can do to help the library. Monetary donations are very much welcomed. The library is a charitable organization and as such any donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. You may donate by PayPal by clicking the link on the homepage, or a check made out and sent to the "Purchase Free Library": 3093 Purchase Street Purchase, NY 10577 All donations will receive a written acknowledgement so please provide your address. Many thanks to all! The Purchase Free Library Board of Trustees
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On July 31, 2014 the Board of Directors of the Purchase Community House notified the Purchase Free Library that they will not renew the lease despite the library’s request that they do so, and have threatened to commence legal action to evict the library if the library does not vacate the Community House by August 31, 2014. The library disputes those actions. Purchase area residents in the Purchase School District are automatically members of the Purchase Community and they are collecting signatures to demand a Special Meeting of the Community House members to address, among other things, keeping the library at the Community House. Please drop by the library and speak to Linda Smith or email her at LSmith@wlsmail.org, or contact any of us, to see what you can do to help and stop this egregious action. -The PFL Board of Trustees and Your Fellow Purchase Neighbors **Please click the above image for list of Purchase Free Library Board of Trustees' email addresses**
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Purchase Free Library (PFL) has been located in the Purchase Community House (PCH) since the library received its charter in 1928. The library rents the space from the community house. The PCH has not renewed the PFL lease. The board of the Purchase Free Library has become aware of pending termination of the lease in order to enable PCH expansion. The Purchase Library serves all of our community and is an enhancement to all that the community house has to offer. We all need to act now to save the library from closure! The library has occupied space in the PCH since 1928 and is a fixture at the PCH. Circulation of children's materials has more than doubled since 2000 even though there has been a 7% decrease of children 14 and below from 2000 to 2010. Total circulation of library materials of all age groups has increased almost 100% since 2000. Purchase offers limited services for its residents. The services are Purchase School, the Purchase Community House, the Purchase Free Library, the Post Office, and the fire house. Purchase residents should have a library in a convenient and central location as have other Harrison and West Harrison residents. Closing a library is a grave situation and more often seen and done in communities with residents that cannot economically support the library. This is not the case in Purchase. In our case, the PFL would be closed by an arbitrary and possibly uninformed action by the board of the PCH. We, as a community, cannot afford to lose our treasure of a library. It serves all. It is part of the fabric that makes Purchase special. Please voice your support to save our library! Click on the "Save The PFL" image on our homepage to be redirected to our petition.
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