About RPL

Welcome to Rochester Public Library!

Library customers and community members renewed many pre-pandemic connections in 2022, returning to RPL and other gathering spaces following many months of isolation. As the COVID public health emergency continued on with many restrictions removed, people began to feel more comfortable going out to public places, including the library. We saw a dramatic increase in the number of visits to RPL and an even greater increase in overall collection use.

To start off the year, longtime director Audrey Betcher retired, along with other longtime library teammates. The departure of so many years of institutional knowledge, coupled with position vacancies and a frozen full time position created challenges for library teammates. In late 2022, City Council approved the 2023 budget, reinstating a crucial fulltime librarian position, and throughout the year the other critical positions were filled. This limited the library’s ability to be back to “full speed” in 2022, but as teammates were hired and staffing was added, RPL brought back many programs and services.

In 2022, library visits increased 91% over the previous year, while collection use topped 2 million, the library’s highest collection use ever recorded. The library completed its first full year-round schedule, being open 10am-8pm Monday-Thursday and 10am-6pm Friday-Sunday. As we slowly brought programs back, we saw a flood of people return to the library to attend those events.

Customers continued to visit the library during months of construction on the library roof and façade, which led to the creation of a “safety tunnel” in front of the building. The roof was original to the building, and in desperate need of repair. With a start date of August, the repair work continued through the remainder of the year.

In October of 2022, the RPL Board of Trustees took a significant stance on book banning and censorship, officially adopting a resolution on the freedom to read. As libraries across the country continue to deal with censorship and book bans, we appreciate our board being able to take a position that censorship is against what the Rochester Public Library stands for.

As we work our way through 2023, we continue to focus on community needs, the future for the library, and working to provide the best services to Rochester that we can.

Thank you for joining us on this journey and reconnecting with us in this “new normal.”

Karen Lemke
Director, Rochester Public Library

Our Commitment to Inclusivity & Antiracism

We are actively working to embody inclusivity and antiracism as an organization and community. We recognize that this is ongoing work which begins with training and development of staff and an extensive evaluation and overhaul of our policies, practices, and procedures. We are committed to collaboration with community members and partners in order to seek input, listen and change. We will represent all people in our collections, events, services, workforce and other areas. We will use data and community feedback to ensure we make progress.

Library Board

The Rochester Public Library Board, representing the community served by the library, has ultimate responsibility for providing the services needed by the community in an effective, efficient manner.