State Senator Patty Ritchie met this week with representatives of Northern New York libraries from Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties.

Senator Ritchie was recently reappointed to serve on the Senate Select Committee on Libraries; a panel charged with looking for ways to support the future of public libraries in New York State.

There are over 7,000 public libraries in New York State, including over 50 public libraries in Oswego, Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties—one of the largest concentrations of public libraries in any Senate district in the state.

For the past two years, Senator Ritchie has been awarded an “A” rating by the group New Yorkers for Better Libraries for her efforts on behalf of public libraries, including her work to restore $3 million in library funding that was cut from the state budget.

(Senator Ritchie is pictured in the above photo, with Northern New York Library Network Director John Hammond, Antwerp Library Board member Ellen Darabaner,  Gouverneur Library Director Linda Adams, Canton Library Director Lynn Swafford and Ogdensburg Library Director Wayne Miller)