Penfield Library celebrated its 50th anniversary in its current building in the center of campus on Oct. 27.
The current building that Penfield is housed in was opened in 1968. Prior to that, the library had been housed in Rich Hall on east campus.
The event was held on Oct. 27 between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. to commemorate the library’s half a century of service to Oswego State students and to thank the campus community for support. There were a variety of activities held during the four-hour event, including a used book sale, scavenger hunt, “into the past” photo booth, Penfield Memories recording and viewing stations and photos from special collections and archives.
The event was held the same weekend as the college’s Friends and Family weekend, which allowed for students and their families to enjoy the event and learn about the history of the library in a fun and interactive setting.
The event was mainly run by librarians Morgan Bond, Juan Denzer and Sharona Ginsberg.
Ginsberg was in charge of a form for students who were unable to attend the event to be able to electronically submit a “Penfield Memory” for the viewing station and Penfield website.
Bond, Penfield’s resource sharing librarian, also helped to create the event by running the used book sale at the event.
“Penfield’s last-ever book sale was well attended, with over 1,000 books sold during the two days the book sale was held,” Bond said.
The book sale ran from Friday to Saturday. Bond said the leftover books will be donated to local groups such as Oswego County Little Free Libraries Project, which are small public boxes that hold books for the community to use.
The scavenger hunt was focused on taking participants through library services that have been offered throughout the years. Other activities included the “Magic Radio Station,” which allowed attendees to listen to recordings from the libraries special collection archives. An “into the past” photo booth using an X-Box Kinect sensor allowed people to place themselves inside photos from Special Collections.
According to Ginsberg, many of the activities were created in the library Makerspace, which is where the library’s 3-D printer, button maker, sewing machine, knitting and crochet supplies and more are located.
The event was created through the collaboration of librarians and student workers. Planning and building for the event as a whole took months of work from the student and faculty workers, with work beginning back during the summer, Ginsberg said.
Those involved feel the hard work was worth it as it allowed a fun event for people to visit over the weekend.
“The event appeared to be very well received, with around 100 people attending,” Ginsberg said.
The event was designed to allow people to wander and explore at their own pace to see everything they were interested in.
Photos by Maria Pericozzi | The Oswegonian
