To the Editor:

As we approach National Library Week (April 3-9), we’re pleased to acknowledge the Princeton Public Library. Recently, Library Journal magazine awarded our library its highest rating, Five Stars.

This recognition is significant for three reasons:

1. Our library is the only one in the state to receive this rating;
2. This is the sixth year in a row our library has achieved this rating;
3. PPL was ranked No. 1 nationally in its budget category.

Many factors contribute to such excellence. Thank you, municipality. Your ongoing financial support recognizes that many consider the library our community’s living room and their favorite place in Princeton.

Thank you, patrons. Your respect for, embrace of, and participation in all that our library offers — print and online resources; a range of programs; a peaceful, vital oasis in a bustling downtown; a locale that enhances opportunities to build community — confirm why our library is the second most-popular destination (after Princeton University) of folks who visit Princeton.

Thank you, Friends and Foundation and donors. Your support allows us to provide materials that engage our diverse population and sponsor events that enhance, celebrate, and challenge our patrons’ lives and intellect.

And thank you to our extraordinary, incomparable, and peerless staff. Your welcoming demeanor, responsiveness to patrons, and dedication to helping library users make our library a very special place. From the youngest attendees at story times to our oldest guests who need help navigating devices, from our students who need assistance with a school assignment to our non-English speakers pursuing resources for leisure reading, from those seeking a respite from the ongoing stressors of daily life to others desperate for a secure environment during emergencies like Superstorm Sandy, our staff provides extraordinary service to all.

Of course, we could have written the previous paragraph for the last decade. But, after the two years we’ve just experienced, we should additionally cite how much our staff has overcome as they’ve adapted to tough times by creating new services; mobilizing the princetoncovid.org website; producing virtual events; identifying platforms for our Princeton Environment Film Festival, our Children’s Book Festival, and other signature programs; expanding our e-resources so that we could meet our patrons in their homes; staying connected with our vulnerable users via telephone; reopening and returning safely to in-person programming; and remaining a community constant throughout the pandemic.

Our staff is the soul of our library.  Every day, but certainly on Tuesday, April 5, National Library Workers Day, we invite library patrons to let our colleagues know how much we appreciate them. Our library’s board of trustees surely do.

Robert A. Ginsberg
President

Edward Felten
Vice President

Christopher Van Buren
Treasurer

For the Princeton Public Library Board