Assemblyman Byrne Secures $25,000 Grant For Patterson Library

PATTERSON, NY — Assemblyman Kevin Byrne, R-Mahopac, announced that Patterson Library has received an additional $25,000 in state aid from the State Education Department’s bullet aid program.

Bullet aid grants are delivered to hundreds of libraries across New York through a program of targeted aid via state education funding, according to a spokesperson.

The funding will be used to support the Patterson Library’s efforts to upgrade various technologies and services throughout its building.

Byrne said public libraries are vital hubs of our communities and key to addressing the numerous learning gaps and educational deficits that exist.

"The beauty of our public library system is that our libraries serve everyone, regardless of age or anything else that may make us different as individuals," he said.

"The Patterson Library has long provided fundamental services to its residents by serving as a central location to meet and socialize while expanding access to essential tools, training, and resources,” Byrne said.

"I know the Patterson Library will put this state aid to good use," he said, "reducing additional need for the district to rely on more property tax dollars to enhance its services.”

Patterson Library Director Stephanie Harrison said the library was honored to receive the $25,000 grant from Byrne.

She said they plan to use the funds to upgrade aging technology as well as to purchase new items to benefit their patrons.

"We currently have 15 older laptops that we use on a weekly basis for our teen program," Harrison said. "These programs are essential in helping us attract this hard-to-reach audience to the library, and by participating in this type of program, teens strengthen their socialization and cooperation skills, improve reading and math skills, and can practice critical thinking.”

The laptops are also used for hands-on computer classes for adults where they learn skills to improve their job prospects, run their own business, or just keep up-to-date on current technology, she said.

"Additionally, the grant funding will also support programming on technology-related topics to enable our patrons to use their devices and software more successfully," Harrison said.

She also plans to use the funds for other technology to support her patrons, such as an easy-to-use touchscreen patron catalog to find materials more easily in the library, additional Wi-Fi hotspots and items to be included in our Library of Things.

Since first elected to the New York State Assembly, Assemblyman Kevin Byrne has helped secure numerous grants amounting to over $100,000 in state bullet aid for various local public libraries in addition to other grants from the state’s library construction and other aid programs.