Pawlet Public Library | Pawlet, Vermont

About the Library
The Pawlet Public Library is located in the renovated grammar school building by the town green in the Pawlet Village Center. It houses 10,000 items and provides access to Audio books, Videos, DVDs, CDs and wireless high-speed internet access.

The library director is Lyndsi Barnes.

The library is open Tuesday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and is closed Sunday and Monday.

Curbside service is available by appointment on the days the Library is open. Contact the Library staff at 802-325-3123 or pawletpub@gmail.com.

Call the Library at 802-325-3123, email pawletpub@gmail.com, or visit the library’s website HERE for more information.

Holidays: The library will be closed to observe the following holidays:
New Year’s Day
Martin Luther King Day
President’s Day
Easter – (closed that Saturday)
Memorial Day – (closed that Saturday)
Independence Day
Labor Day
Columbus Day
Veteran’s Day
Thanksgiving
Christmas

Pawlet Public Library Receives National Grant for Small and Rural Libraries

$3,000 Grant Will Help the Library Work with Town and Community Organizations to Build Pawlet Volunteer Network: A Service of the Pawlet Public Library

January 15, 2021 – Pawlet Public Library has been selected as one of 200 libraries to participate in Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries, an American Library Association (ALA) initiative that helps library workers better serve their small and rural communities.

The competitive award comes with a $3,000 grant that will help the library encourage more community members to volunteer their services for Town and community organizations.

“We are so proud to be chosen for this amazing opportunity,” said Library Director Mary Lou Willits. “We learned in our strategic planning community engagement sessions with 13 Town and community organizations that the aging and dwindling of volunteers has seriously decreased their capacity to meet their missions, and they are worried about the future of the community. This grant will help our Community Connector, Sara Young, as a grant-funded staff member, devote her time to addressing this issue.”

As part of the grant, Young will host conversations to further explore and document volunteer needs with the leaders of the 13 Town and community groups, have them clearly define by job description their volunteer needs, complete a community asset mapping of skills in the community, and publicize succinct volunteer opportunities.

Clearly defining volunteer needs for each organization and reaching out to newcomers and younger community members to encourage them to help the community will take time and expertise that participating organizations cannot afford. “We believe that a strategic approach and ample creative, positive outreach will produce a volunteer network that will benefit the whole community now and in the future,” said Library Community Connector Sara Young.

More than 300 libraries applied for the grant, according to ALA. Since 2014, ALA’s Libraries Transforming Communities initiative has re-imagined the role libraries play in supporting communities. Libraries of all types have utilized free dialogue and deliberation training and resources to lead community and campus forums; take part in anti-violence activities; provide a space for residents to come together and discuss challenging topics; and have productive conversations with civic leaders, library trustees and staff.

“Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) in collaboration with the Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL).”

Upcoming Events and Programs
The Library offers year-round programming for children and adults. Please see our website for more information: www.pawletpubliclibrary.wordpress.com.

Annual Book Sale
The annual book sale takes place in July. It’s one of the largest annual book sales in the Northeast.

Library Board Meetings
The Library Board meets the first Tuesday of every month at 6:00 PM. The meetings are open to the public.

Strategic Plan: From 2018 into 2019, the Library’s Strategic Planning Committee met with 13 community groups and several individuals to determine what matters most to the community it serves – primarily the villages of Pawlet and West Pawlet. From this information, three service priorities were established to guide the organization’s decisions about programming, funding, staffing and facility needs for the next four years. For more information, please see Strategic Planning Documents.