SUPPORT OUR ANNUAL APPEAL
This month, we’re sending out our annual appeal fundraising letters to library users & supporters in order to keep making improvements & enhancements to your library services for the 2025 year! Can you help us reach our goal of $30K this year? Donate using the button below, in person at your library, or by mailing cash or check. Thank you in advance for your continued support! We’re excited to see where 2025 takes the Oil Region Libraries.
Thank you in advance for your past and ongoing support for ORLA. We rely on you more heavily than ever and are counting on you to make 2025 a year that strengthens your library for generations of Venango County residents to come.
Let me show you how your support has helped enhance our services and spaces in 2024 along with some highlights of what 2025 may bring. We know this information will encourage you to further make use of our resources, spread awareness of these services to others and help us meet our $30,000 fundraising goal.
Enhanced Access/Opportunities
Over the past year we worked hard to expand access to important resources. The biggest change was merging our catalog with Clarion County libraries. We now offer you direct access and delivered materials from these 5 additional library locations! Freegal Music is also new. It’s a digital resource that allows you to stream unlimited songs plus download and permanently keep up to 3 songs each week. Our seed exchanges went so well this year that we’re looking to continue providing them into the next growing season. An extra rototiller and PH meter were purchased for circulation to meet the increased demand! Cooperstown expanded and adjusted hours (now open Wednesdays!), increasing opportunities to connect with us.
Space Updates
In Franklin, we are thrilled with the fresh look of new corbels underneath the mansard roof. Their installation wrapped up a multi-year $100,000 project! The new corbels allowed us to open the courtyard again, providing a peaceful space for visitors. In Oil City, we are in the process of Library Hall renovations. After raising nearly $1 million to restore the space, we are excited to begin planning community events and offering private bookings for this beautiful cultural venue in 2025. We also received great public response for our personal care stations thanks to your support. Smaller grant funds provided fresh paint, new furniture and equipment to teen and entertainment spaces across the County.
2025 Plans
In Cooperstown, we are facing a major building issue that we’re using as an opportunity to expand service! We need to raise over $100,000 to correct the issue while expanding the amount of interior space in order to better accommodate the growing public programs, general patron traffic and offer private booking space.
We’re looking to embark on a Countywide mission to secure meaningful library funding for all Venango County residents. Currently, we receive annual local government funds to provide our services and maintain buildings. Much of that funding is limited (including $0 from the County) or restricted, leading to service barriers and requiring many of our area residents to pay additionally for access.
We are looking toward your support vocally, and at the ballot box, to significantly enhance those contributions so that our services can reach more people more widely. In 2025, we will be looking to add a referendum question on the ballot that would fund our local library services. Your voice, and vote, will be critical to our success.
Our public spaces continue to be critical to community residents, local organizations and visitors. Expanded local government investment would help us staff hours more widely and robustly to better meet the needs of these users by providing enhanced access to our spaces in more times of need. We could invest in proactive building repairs, updated equipment and technology and more diverse collections to enhance security, increase reliability and cater to wider interests.
While our public programs are well-attended, they are often done on a shoestring budget. Additional revenue would allow for more frequent and higher quality offerings to a wide range of interests and age groups. New revenue could fulfill the increasing digital demand while maintaining a robust physical collection.
Finally, these investments could help us realize our true Countywide vision of equitable library service for all residents. For the cost of less than $10 per resident, we could offer borrowing privileges for every resident without requiring additional fees. We could invest in resources of various types and formats to meet the greatest needs, including materials available digitally 24/7 without requiring visits to our locations. We could significantly expand outreach opportunities and delivery models to meet people where they are in their own municipalities, community hot spots and public events rather than relying solely on our 3 current locations. In total, library service in Venango County would become more robust, more reliable and more equitable.
We are proud of the services we offer and appreciative of your support! We hope you will contribute to help us reach our $30,000 goal and enthusiastically support our efforts moving forward. We always welcome your comments and recommendations for your libraries. Thank you so much for tuning in, promoting our services to others and helping us realize our Countywide vision in 2025.
