West Winfield Star Library Portal: Gateway to the Past

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West Winfield Star Portal

Historical newspapers are treasure troves, packed with local history and genealogical information, photographs, stories, and more. The West Winfield Public Library has teamed up with the West Winfield Start to make access easier than ever, through a free library portal.

West Winfield Star History

Library patrons can use the computer to scroll through archives, read and print stories. That allows people to find new ways to learn from and share local history.

West Winfield Public Library Services

The portal has another benefit. Libraries are already amazing hubs for community services and programs, but they always want to attract more people. The portal will attract seniors, history buffs, and others who might not be drawn in by children’s programs or traditional library services.

Library Resources

Once there, visitors can connect to a whole range of essential community services and resources. The Library now offers telehealth visits, Chromebooks for loan, and a whole range of programs that people can discover.

Photos ©Community Workshop LLC

Where: 179 South Street, West Winfield, NY

What: Free library portal for local history and news archives

The West Winfield Public Library has a dedicated computer set up as a portal to historical archives of the West Winfield Star. This simple system makes it easy for community members to discover and celebrate local history.

Why: Make big community improvements on a small community budget

Small town don’t typically have a lot of extra staff capacity and money, so they often lack the amenities and improvements that bigger towns enjoy. In Dolgeville, a tightly organized community group is boosting capacity by organizing local residents and volunteers to work on eight major community priorities. Many towns have volunteer committees and activities, but Dolgeville Forward takes coordination to a new level, retaining dozens of active volunteers and attracting major grant resources.

A big part of Dolgeville Forward’s success is communication and delegation — empowering different groups of volunteers to lead and work on projects that matter to them (whether arts or beautification or healthcare), but bringing those groups and leaders together every month to communicate and share progress and align their work.

More:

• Visit: Stop in to the West Winfield Public Library to explore the portal

• Subscribe or read: Check out the current editions of the West Winfield Star

• Get resources: Explore best practices, guides and resources for managing volunteers from the National Council of Nonprofits

Get inspired:

• Spread history: Historic photos and stories tend to catch people’s attention, no matter where or how you share them. Look around for a few from your community and share them on social media, print them out, and just start passing them around.

• Share links: If you have a website, facility or public computers, start by posting links or bookmarking local history resources.

• Drop in: If you haven’t been to your library lately, stop in for an hour and just see what they have to offer — then tell people about it.