About RCLS

RCLS Background

The Ramapo Catskill Library System (RCLS) is a non-profit, cooperative public library system chartered in 1959 by the New York State Board of Regents. RCLS working cooperatively with its member libraries, provides coordinated services, guidance, training, support, and leadership to member library trustees and staff to sustain their effort to be responsive, proactive, vital community institutions that meet the changing needs of their users in Orange, Rockland, Sullivan and southern Ulster counties. Working in cooperation with member libraries, RCLS helps to raise awareness about library services and works to eliminate barriers to library access and use.

The Ramapo Catskill Library System serves 47 chartered public libraries in urban, suburban, and rural settings encompassing a total of 2,459 square miles with a population of 803,351 (2010 US Census). Each library has its own Board of Trustees and Director. The RCLS headquarters is located in Middletown and is not open to the public.

The System is governed by an eleven-member Board of Trustees who are unsalaried and whom the member libraries’ trustees elect for five (5) year terms at the System’s Annual Meeting. The Board also includes a non-voting member who represents the Directors Association.

The primary source of income for the System is state aid earned according to the formula established in New York State Education Law. RCLS also competes for grants to fund special projects for new and existing library services. The total budget in 2020 is $4,961,664. The System has 25 (FTE) employees, including four professional librarians and a business manager.

RCLS is a member of the Southeastern New York Library Resources Council (SENYLRC), which is a state-funded, multi-type library cooperative that offers multi-county interloan; Library Trustees Association of New York State (LTA); New York Library Association (NYLA); and the American Library Association (ALA).

The System provides Automated Network SERvices (ANSER) a program that manages circulation, borrower registration, an online catalog, reserves, and interloan. ANSER also provides access to a fiber optic wide-area network linking all member libraries, statistical reporting of collection use, and other relevant data and cataloging services. Member libraries pay for most of the operating costs of ANSER.

In partnership with the RCLS Central Library (Newburgh Free Library) members are provided access to electronic database access and digital downloads of ebooks, audiobooks, videos, and music. At the end of 2019 the total holdings of all member libraries, which can be searched through an easy-to-use Web interface, was in excess of 13.8 million items.

RCLS operates a delivery service five days a week which transports library materials between and among member libraries. This service facilitates interlibrary loans between RCLS libraries as well as the libraries within the Mid-Hudson Library System. The delivery service also makes it possible for library users to return materials to any library within the System and have it delivered to the appropriate library. In 2019 RCLS delivered just over 3.2 million items.

Supporting member libraries is the primary responsibility of the System and one important means of achieving this goal is through a broad range of consulting services offered by the RCLS management team. Another important service provided by RCLS is quarterly access to a preview collection of new and forthcoming books for children and teens.

Maintaining a professional collection (5,929 volumes) covering all aspects of librarianship is one way the System helps to keep member library trustees and staff up to date on library issues and trends. In addition, the System regularly publishes and distributes a quarterly trustee newsletter (Trustee FYI) and the RCLS Weekly Memo.  The System’s website (www.rcls.org) provides access to all RCLS publications, including a library directory, a statistical compilation with key information about its members, and a System annual report (RCLS Highlights). A wide range of information about RCLS and resources for member library trustees and staff, as well as, links to the websites and on-line catalogs of all member libraries can be found on the RCLS website.

Mission

We deliver high-quality, cost-effective consolidated and cooperative services to support member libraries in meeting the needs of their communities.

Goals

1. Coordinated Services

Offer a clearly defined set of cost-effective consolidated and coordinated services designed to enhance local library achievement and maximize the value of local funds expended.

2. Technology
   Assist member libraries in implementing emerging technologies to improve library service and enhance and maintain a cybersecurity environment where everyone is responsible.

3. Resource Sharing

Coordinate Central Library and System activities to provide a broad range of services and online resources to support equity of access for all residents.

4. Training
   Provide opportunities to member libraries’ staff, directors, and trustees for the training and skills development needed to support excellent library service.

5. Advocacy

Actively work to increase awareness about the value and importance of library services and help strengthen member libraries in their advocacy efforts.

6. Communication
   Maintain and promote effective means of communication with and among member libraries and RCLS.

7. Marketing

Empower library advocates to become brand ambassadors and increase mindfulness of library services value to community members.

It was after passage of the legislation of 1958 permitting the formation of cooperative library systems that the libraries now comprising the Ramapo Catskill Library System realized an ambition dating back to 1948 when regional libraries for New York State were under discussion. On November 17, 1959, 25 public libraries in Orange, Rockland, Sullivan and Ulster Counties voted to establish a cooperative library system, designating the Newburgh Free Library, which had the largest nonfiction collection, as the Central Reference Library.1

A system library board was elected consisting of three members from each county in which a majority of the libraries voted to participate, one member from Ulster County where about a third of the libraries were joining, and one member each from the cities of Middletown and Newburgh.2

The New York State Board of Regents granted the system a provisional charter, December 18, 1959. The proposed area to be served was 2,506.6 square miles with a population of 300,073. Today, the population served has grown to 675,513, with 322,892 residing in Orange County, exceeding Rockland
County for the first time. With the addition of 22 more libraries, the total membership is now 47. On June 25, 1965, the Board of Regents granted Ramapo Catskill Library System a permanent charter.3

Elena Horton, with a staff of seven, began operation in temporary headquarters on West Main Street, Middletown while the permanent building at 619 North Street (now Route 17M), Middletown was being readied for occupancy. In September the system moved to the present headquarters, which were rented until December 1961 when the trustees purchased the building.4

In 1965, Eleanor Harris was appointed Director, followed by Robert E. Thomas in 1969. The 1960s saw the realization of a truly cooperative system with the development of the union catalog of book holdings and the delivery system put in place. This enabled libraries to exchange materials easily and effectively, creating the core services of the system. Other services offered were: rotating collections that went from  library to library, establishing a non-fiction collection for central reference at Newburgh Free Library, initiating two $200 book grants per year, consulting services and offering supplies. In addition, book collections for adults and children, AV materials and workshops for reference services were available.

During the 1970s with Alfred L. Freund as Director, RCLS led the State in automation by providing automated MARC records for the union catalog of book holdings. The System started coordinated book ordering for member libraries. The Sullivan County Bookmobile, begun in the early 1960s, was discontinued by the end of the 1970s due to lack of operational funding. Two communities, which had been very active bookmobile stops, organized their own libraries as eading centers during the next decade.  RCLS’Outreach Program to the print disabled population–Radio Vision, the radio reading service for the blind and physically handicapped–went on the air October 1, 1979. With the purchase of an offset press, the RCLS Print Shop was established.

The 1980s saw the appointment of Richard V. Anglin as Director in 1987, the first nine member libraries committed to automation and the creation of ANSER (Automated Network SERvices), while all member libraries received computers with modems and printers. RCLS, along with the other 21 systems in the state, contended with level state funding and realized a reduction in staff. During 1984 the System’s headquarters building was completely renovated to add and restructure space.

The 1990s have seen the expansion of automation to include all 48 member libraries. With the creation of an RCLS Web site came the ability to access the RCLS database of member libraries’ holdings including the electronic means to request library materials from home. Commercial periodical databases, creation of KidsClick! and LibraryLand (both nationally cited) and other library maintained Web resources have expanded the use of the RCLS homepage–www.rcls.org. Coordinated book ordering for member libraries, a once popular and economical service, gave way to individual libraries ordering electronically. Meeting rooms were refurbished and additional property was purchased for parking and storage. The statewide Summer Reading Program became a model for system cooperation with member libraries.

The challenge for RCLS is to continue to provide new electronic services and partner with our members to improve delivery and training while members share physical materials and more with the public.

Year 2000 has been another milestone with the consolidation of three libraries into one, Delaware Free Library, Jeffersonville Public Library, and Tusten-Cochecton Library merging to become the Western Sullivan Public Library on July 1. In addition, Fallsburg changed from a reading center to a school district public library. Fourteen-year veteran System Director Richard V. Anglin retired in July and the Board of Trustees chose Robert Hubsher to lead RCLS into the 21st Century

An updated Plan of Service, completed in 1998, is currently under revision. As we enter the new century, we are energized by our member libraries, the Central Reference Library, and our other major subject resource libraries as they build library collections for their communities. Libraries will continue to reach out to their constituents through the Web and through partnerships with other community agencies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1Mrs. Eleanor C. Harris, Director and Sumner F. White, Assistant Director. A Profile… Ramapo Catskill Library System. Reprint from The Bookmark, 1963 – 66. State Ed Department, April 1996. 2Ibid. 3Ibid. 4Ibid.