Patchogue-Medford Library
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| Type | Public |
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| Established | 1883 |
| Location | Patchogue, New York |
| Coordinates | 40°45′56″N 73°00′49″W / 40.76543°N 73.01362°WCoordinates: 40°45′56″N 73°00′49″W / 40.76543°N 73.01362°W |
| Other information | |
| Director | Lauren Nichols |
| Website | www |
The Patchogue-Medford Library is the central library for Suffolk County, located at 54-60 East Main Street in Patchogue, New York. It is a school district public library, serving the residents of the Patchogue-Medford area.
The Patchogue Library Association (PLA) was formed in 1883 with the aim of establishing a library for Patchogue residents. Membership in the association was set at $5 and gave voting and borrowing privileges. On June 12, 1883, the association elected a board of trustees, approved a constitution and by-laws, and made plans for establishing the library. Dr. John Joseph Craven was elected as president, a position he would hold until his death a decade later.
A location for the library was found in July, in the back room of Overton’s Shoe Store, with Floyd Overton serving as de facto librarian. In August 1883, the library was formally dedicated at the First Congregational Church of Patchogue.
The library moved frequently over the next seventeen years, alternately being housed in a stationery store, music store, and the New Lyceum theatre, along with other locations. For the remainder of its existence, the Patchogue Library Association worked at fundraising and finding the library a more permanent home.
Financial difficulties, infrequent board meetings, a lack of facilities, and a precipitous drop in subscribers lead the eventual close of the PLA. It held its final meeting on October 28, 1899, and the proposal was made that an outside group should take charge of the library and shepherd its transition into a new organizational form was accepted.
In 1899, the Patchogue chapter of Sorosis, a women’s suffrage organization, took control of the library collection, and moved it to their club building. It was the aim of Sorosis to change the library from an association library to a public library, arrange a new system of library funding (from membership dues to local budget votes), and provide the library a permanent home. Under the care of the organization, a 1500-book demonstration public library was created and opened for public use.
In August 1900, at a school district board meeting, a public vote officially established a new Patchogue Library, and elected its first board of trustees. When the board met the next day, officers were elected and Elizabeth Mott Smith became the first president.
Following an inspection by the State Library, the Board of Regents granted Patchogue Library a state charter of incorporation in December 1900.
On its annual budget meeting on August 1, 1905, the school board unanimously agreed to fund the library at $1,000 a year. A lot at 10 Lake Street, a gift from Edwin Bailey, Sr., was used as the building site.
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