Librarians give Outstanding Advocate Award to Orange County

Goshen-Orange County government has been good to libraries. The New York Library Association has awarded the Outstanding Advocate of Libraries Award to County Executive Edward A. Diana and the members of the county legislature. The Orange Library Association nominated Diana and the legislature to recognize the importance of the funding the libraries have received from the county over the last few years. The association presented the award at the New York Library Association's annual conference in Rochester on Oct. 22. The Orange County Library Association accepted the award and bring it to the next county legislative session on Thursday, Nov. 4, for a formal presentation to the recipients. Since 2002, Orange County has given $350,000 to local libraries for technology and automation programs. "After more than a decade of efforts by Orange County Libraries, a strong bi-partisan coalition emerged from within the Orange County Legislature in favor of providing support for the county's 17 public libraries," said Rosemary Cooper, president of the Orange County Library Association. "This was done with the support of County Executive Ed Diana as an articulate and committed spokesman for the value of public libraries to the quality of life in Orange County. Their united efforts to provide funding for automation services, which provide a seamless connection to the resources of all our county libraries to every county resident, is the reason we felt compelled to nominate Mr. Diana and the Orange County Legislature for this award. We are delighted to recognize their contribution to the work we do to provide quality library services to our communities." The Orange County Library Association is located at 16 County Route 105 in Highland Mills. For more information, call Claudia Depkin at 928-7837 or e-mail cdepkin@rcls.org. The libraries of Orange County Chester: Chester Public Library Cornwall: Cornwall Public Library Florida: Florida Public Library Goshen: The Goshen Public Library and Historical Society Greenwood Lake: Greenwood Lake Public Library Highland Falls: Highland Falls Library Middletown: Middletown-Thrall Library Monroe: Monroe Free Library Montgomery: Montgomery Free Library Newburgh: Newburgh Free Library Pine Bush: Town of Crawford Free Library Port Jervis: Port Jervis Free Library Tuxedo Park: Tuxedo Park Library Walden: Josephine Louise Public Library Warwick: The Albert Wisner Public Library Washingtonville: The Moffat Library of Washingtonville Woodbury: Woodbury Public Library