Cairo Library Approved for Grant to Aid in Durham Mobile Library

CAIRO — The wheels are no longer hypothetical.

After months of anticipation and a final push through a competitive national process, the Cairo Public Library has officially secured $10,000 in funding through the American Library Association’s Transforming Communities initiative—marking the successful conclusion of a journey that began last fall with an idea: bring the library to the people.

Now, that idea has a budget, a timeline, and—soon—a vehicle.

The award follows the library’s advancement to the fourth and final round of the Accessible Small and Rural Communities Grant, a program aimed at expanding access to populations in towns under 25,000 residents. Cairo, serving roughly 6,000, stood out. Only one other nearby institution, the Heermance Memorial Library in Coxsackie, received funding in the same cycle.

For Cairo, the outcome is tangible. The funds will go toward the purchase and insurance of a reliable, year-round minivan, the backbone of what staff are already calling their “bookmobile”—a mobile extension of the library designed to serve neighboring Durham.

The need is not abstract. Since the closure of Durham’s reading room in 2023, residents have faced a quiet but persistent gap in access—particularly those with mobility challenges or limited transportation.

Library Director Corinne Tatavitto, who spearheaded the grant application back in November, sees the project as both practical and deeply personal.

“This is a huge passion project for Adrian and I and we want it to be impactful for many, many people in this new territory,” Tatavitto said.

That “Adrian” is Adrian Pierce, board representative and Mid-Hudson Library System ambassador, who has worked alongside Tatavitto to shape the initiative from concept to reality.

Together, they envision a vehicle stocked with books, materials, and programming—pulling into familiar places: school lots at dismissal, community hubs, roadside stops along Durham’s rural stretches.

Though the van itself is still to be secured, the shelves are already beginning to fill.

The library has collected approximately 100 donated books, spanning genres and age groups, forming the foundation of a collection meant to serve both adults and young readers. Additional materials are being sourced from the remnants of Durham’s former reading room, giving the project a sense of continuity as well as renewal.

Community members are now being encouraged to contribute.

Book donations are actively sought, with staff emphasizing accessibility and variety—materials that are “digestible across generations”.

The bookmobile will not just carry stories—it may also carry the names of those who helped make it possible.

Local businesses will be invited to sponsor the initiative by contributing funds in exchange for magnetic logos displayed on the vehicle’s exterior, turning the van into a moving testament to community investment.

At the same time, the library is opening the floor for public input.

Two upcoming gatherings will give residents a chance to help shape how the service operates:

May 13 at 1:30 p.m. — Community conversation at the Cairo Senior Center (645 Old Route 23, Acra), also known locally as the Acra Community Center by the Cairo Golden Ages Club

May 19 at 11:00 a.m. — Library board meeting

The goal, Tatavitto said, is to ensure the service reflects the needs of those it intends to reach.

“We want to bring something outside the walls of the library that will provide its traditional amenities and resources that we’ve all come to love,” she said.

The bookmobile may be the headline, but it is not the only development on the horizon.

Tatavitto also announced that the library’s STEM program (Science. Technology. Engineering. Mathematics) will host a grand opening on July 11 at 11:00 a.m., unveiling a new public-use 3D printer thanks to grant money secured by local legislator Sherry True—a reminder that even as the library expands outward, it continues to invest inward.

For now, the vision that once depended on a grant decision has entered a new phase: implementation.

What began as a response to a closed reading room has evolved into a broader mission—to ensure that geography does not dictate access, and that the reach of a small rural library can extend well beyond its walls.

If all goes as planned, sometime soon, a van loaded with books will begin making its rounds—quietly turning corners, crossing town lines, and bringing with it something Durham has been missing:

A library, arriving right on time.