SHARON — The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon’s new board president Lorna Edmundson, who assumed the role in September 2024, has charted a course toward progressing the historic institution’s reach as it continues to defy the odds of a small town library.
“The big news is that we are bucking the trends,” Edmundson said in a recent interview. “Fewer people are using their libraries,” she lamented, noting that even though services are free, library usage is down across the country.
In the case of the Hotchkiss Library, though, “everything is up.” She said the library has more patrons and more than 200 new library card holders – numbers that have spiked since the completion of the recent renovation.
“We have 184 programs going for adults – I mean, that’s an awful lot for a small institution.” She added that the library is also hosting 142 children’s programs, and that town committees, nonprofits, and other groups are hosting their meetings in the renovated building’s new rooms.
The numbers are up, but Edmundson noted that the approximately 1000 active library cards don’t cover all the households in town. “We still have a ways to go if we really want to engage everyone,” she said.
Accessing the whole community is at the top of Edmundson’s priority list as she assumes her new role. She sees the library as a community hub that provides services for the region far beyond loaning books.
“We’re responding to what people are asking for, and they’re not asking only for books,” she said. She upheld that the library is a resource for healthcare information, a site for residents who don’t have internet access to get connected, or a venue for yoga classes and cookbook talks, among other community programming. She also mentioned that the library is now fully accessible to the elderly and disabled — a much needed update to the building’s Victorian design.
“It’s really meant to pull people together, to educate, and to inform,” she said.
After 45 years working in education, both as a university faculty member and as president of three women’s colleges, Edmundson sees her new appointment as an appropriate and exciting continuation of her life’s work.
“I’ve always been really committed to educating people and seeing the remarkable things that happen when people have the opportunity to come into touch with new information and ideas,” she said.
“The library’s mission is so much like that of a college — it’s to educate the public,” she added.
She comes into the president role after serving six years on the board, during which she chaired the capital campaign to raise money for the building’s renovation. Under her leadership, the campaign more than doubled the minimum funding they set out to raise, all of which was necessary to finance the restoration, renovation, and expansion of the library and achieve their vision of being “a true community hub, not just for Sharon, but for the region.”
Dick Hermans in the Oblong Bookstore on Millerton’s Main Street in 1985.Provided
