History of the North Greenbush Public Library

The North Greenbush Community Library is chartered by the State of New York, and was founded in September 1964 by town residents and members of the Wynantskill Kiwanis Club.

The first home for the library was a former bus barn adjacent to St. Jude the Apostle Church off Brookside Avenue in Wynantskill. Kiwanis members contributed over 500 hours and raised thousands of dollars to transform the building into a library.

The library soon outgrew its space and in 1984 moved to its present location in the former Wynantskill School Building on Main Avenue (currently the Town of North Greenbush Municipal Building).

In 1993, the voters of North Greenbush approved a proposal by the library trustees to create a public library district, which included all of the Town of North Greenbush. This enabled the library to become independent of town government, with the ability to raise funds, subject to voter approval, via a special library taxing district. Since then, the stable funding provided by the voters of North Greenbush has allowed the library to expand both its materials and services.

From its modest beginnings, the library’s small collection has grown to over 48,000 items with the addition of DVD and CD collections to its book holdings. The library is a member of the Upper Hudson Library System and through this association provides access to the collections of 28 other libraries in Albany and Rensselaer Counties with interlibrary loan service to the public. The annual circulation for the library is over 75,000 items.

The library conducts a Tuesday morning reading program for pre school children, and a summer reading programs for children of all ages.