Bancroft Public Library is a small, rural public library; the heart of the community. We are located in Salem, NY, in beautiful Washington County. We are organized as a town library, serving the town of Salem and the surrounding communities.
At the Bancroft Library…
- Borrowing is always FREE. Find your next adult fiction or non-fiction book (including large print), audiobook, or DVD/Blu-ray in our collection of new titles and old favorites.
- Young Adult books, DVDs/Blu-ray and graphic novels? Find them here. Middle readers? Come in and find a new favorite.
- Young children? Browse our collection of children’s books, DVDs/Blu-ray, and audiobooks. Our play area is a great place to bring your young children.
- Can’t find what you’re looking for? The interlibrary loan program expands what we can offer by bringing library materials to you from other libraries.
- Interested in local news? Want to know what’s happening in the world? We have local newspapers available and magazines for library reading.
- E-reader? E-reader app on your smartphone? Download e-books and e-audiobooks through Overdrive. Return them without a fine! We’re here to help you get set up.
- We have FREE wireless internet access available 24/7, and we have seven computers for public use.
- Need to print or copy? Scan? Fax? We can help. We have the capability for black-and-white, color, and wireless printing; and black-and-white and/or color copies.
- Doing genealogical research? Link to our resources on the left side-bar under the heading Genealogy Resources. We can also connect you with our town historian for any research you may need to do using local historical archives.
- Need tax forms during tax season? Find them here.
Early Literacy
Story Time Bags are available to bring the fun of story time to your home! Each bag has picture books, activities, and materials. Take your pick of seventeen different themes including: Birds, Butterflies, Colors, Food, Senses and Tools. All you need to borrow them is a library card in our library system. They can be checked out for two weeks at a time. Many thanks to the Friends of Bancroft Library and a donation from Stewart’s Holiday Match for funding this project.
Our library continues to partner with Books in Kids’ Hands as a pick-up/drop-off spot for the School’s Cool Preschool Book Bag program. This is a FREE book lending program for families with preschoolers who live in the Salem Central School District.
There are 100 bags total, each with 10 age appropriate books. School district residents and their preschoolers can come in to the Bancroft Public Library, or the Salem Central School Elementary Library to check out a bag of books. Parents, grandparents, caregivers, or siblings can read these books aloud to their preschool children. After a family has finished with a bag, they can then exchange it for a new bag of books, again at either the Bancroft Public Library or the elementary school library, whichever is more convenient. When a family has checked out all 100 bags, their preschooler will have had 1000 books read to them before kindergarten!
Signing up is a simple process, only a short form to fill out. Each family will be given a folder with a record sheet to keep track of the bags they have borrowed.
Please stop in and check out this valuable program to help the youngest readers in our community.
Library MakerSpace
