If you are one of the many members who use the Library as a place to work, you have no doubt noticed how much busier many of our building spaces have become over the past few years. That is a good thing - memberships are increasing, we're adding more programs and services to meet member needs, and our community is growing stronger. As a result, however, we realized that we needed to carve out more space to accommodate members, no small feat in a townhouse originally built in 1917 as a family home.

That's why I'm so pleased to report that we have opened up my former office on the Third Floor to member use. For now, we'll be calling it the Little Whitridge Room, or "Little Whit" for short. The furniture you will find in the room is temporary; we'd like to take the time to search for appropriate furnishings for both the Whitridge Room and Little Whit that is:

• flexible to allow Events and Children's Library staff the ability to easily move the furniture for varied programming uses
• functional for all the many member needs, and
• aesthetically pleasing in keeping with our beautiful and historic building

The new room will have a schedule on the door like the Whitridge Room indicating when it will be in use for programs, though we will work to try and keep at least one of these Third Floor rooms open for quiet reading and study most of the time. I hope you'll stop by and see or make use of Little Whit soon. And if you are interested in supporting the purchase of new furniture for the rooms, please let me know!

Finally, where have I gone? Our Controller, Lawi Kibet, and I have relocated to a space on the staff-occupied Fourth Floor. But you can continue to find me on the Reference Desk most days between 11am - 1pm, and I'm happy to be paged if you need to talk. Just ask a staff member to call me, or email me at cwaters@nysoclib.org.