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CHAPTER I
In the beginning... Antecedents of Thrall Library
The "new" Middletown Thrall Library first opened its doors
for business on Monday, February 13, 1995. This building,
constructed at a cost of $5.3 million, sits on an irregularly shaped block of prime land in downtown Middletown, is 30,000
square feet and two stories tall. It boasts a 1995 circulation
of 300,656, fifty percent higher than the previous year. It
houses a collection of 411 periodical titles, 26 newspapers, over
100,000 catalogued books, and a growing CD and audio/video
collection. Middletown Thrall Library has been a federal
depository 11brary since 1986 and since 1981 supports a Literacy
Volunteer Program that has been called "a model program" by the
Division of Library Development in New York State. It ranks
third in circulation out of forty-eight member public libraries
in the Ramapo Catskill Library System, but only seventh in budget
size, with an operating budget of $1, 280,000. The library serves
a widely diversified population of 33,581. Kevin J. Gallagher,
Library Director since September 1994, is optimistic about the
future of public libraries generally and Middletown Thrall
Library in particular. He is articulate when discussing this