Central Library SPRING hours 2023 — Mon./Wed.: 9am-8:30pm; Tues./Fri.: 9am-6pm; Thurs.: 11am-6pm. *OPEN* Sat., 10am-5pm; *CLOSED* Sun.
FFRPL, Central Library, and all branches will be *CLOSED* for Memorial Day (Monday, May 29); Juneteenth (Monday, June 19) and Independence Day (Tuesday, July 4).
The Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library (FFRPL) is the 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that raises funds, presents programs, supports special projects, helps create specialized spaces, and purchases supplemental materials & equipment for the Rochester Public Library.
View our Board of Trustees here
FFRPL conducts fundraising for the Library and is the best way to support the Rochester Public Library. We raise funds through: gifts to an annual fundraising campaign; special project grants from charitable foundations, corporations, government sources and individuals; earnings generated by our $12.5-million endowment; planned gifts made through wills and trusts; and income from the sale of used books and library-related items through the Library Store, both onsite and online.
Community: Books By Bike (left); Legacy: BSI speakers Dr. Jen Connelly, RIT, and student Amber Dubill (center); Special Events: Rick Riordan (right)
FFRPL organizes, hosts, and helps fund:
Learn more about Legacy Programs, Special Events, and Community Partnerships here
Juried Show: annual ‘Art of the Book’ (left). Historical Exhibits: preparation for ‘Stonewall’ (center) and ‘Because of Women Like Her’ (right)
For many years, FFRPL has supported Central Libraries juried shows, including the Annual Art of the Book exhibit and the Rochester Edible Books Festival and Competition. Learn more about FFRPL-supported juried shows at the Library here.
FFRPL supports Central Library’s thematic, historical exhibitions such as Punjab: Land of Five Rivers (organized by the India Heritage Museum, located at the Vinod and Vinay Luthra India Heritage Center in Macedon and on view from December 1, 2021 through March 5, 2022.); Thrift Style (on view from May 17 – June 21, 2021); the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race (2020); Crafting Democracy: Fiber Arts and Activism (on view August 1 – October 25, 2019); Stonewall: 50 Years Out, which commemorated the anniversary of the uprising that sparked the gay liberation movement and explored the history of Rochester’s LGBTQ+ communities (2019); Because of Women Like Her … Winning the Vote in New York State as part of the NYS Suffrage Centennial Celebration (2017); the traveling exhibition Al-Mutanabbi Street: the Conversation Starts Here (2014), which served as a moving tribute to the lives, books, and community spaces that were lost in March 2007, when a suicide bomber in Baghdad, Iraq, exploded his car on a street populated by hundreds of bookstores, publishers, printers, bookstalls and cafés; and Pride & Passion: the African American Baseball Experience which celebrated the story of black baseball players in the U.S. over the previous century and a half (2013).
Learn more about exhibits here
Dr. Tolley Reeves, Assistant RPL Director with new Library patron (left), special event at Safe to be Smart (center, right)
One of FFRPL’s long-term special projects is the Library’s flagship afterschool program Safe to be Smart, housed at Central Library downtown and five City library branches. FFRPL is proud to be a founding sponsor, with Central Library and the City of Rochester, of Safe to be Smart; since 2001, we have given more than $100,000 annually to the program. In a typical year, Safe to be Smart has thousands of recorded interactions with youth; students receive mentoring, educational support and career exploration help, and routinely access Library resources including books and wi-fi.
Rundel Arts Room/’Glass Cube’ (left), Dorris Carlson Reading Garden (center), Teen Central (right)
The last few years, FFRPL has helped create and renovate numerous, large-scale, transformative projects for the Library. Highlights of new — and renovated spaces — include: the Rundel Terrace Revitalization Project (in partnership with the City of Rochester and Central Library), the Carlson Center for Intellectual Property, Central Library’s planned Technology Center, Kusler-Cox Auditorium, imagineYOU Digital Media Learning Lab, Teen Central, the Dorris Carlson Reading Garden, murals at the Arnett and Douglas branches, the Arts Division and Youth Services (Teen Central, B Hive, and Middle Ground), the Anthony Mascioli Gallery, and the Walter F. Becker Digital History Center.
Ukuleles (left), sewing machines (center), Empire Passes to NYS parks (right)
FFRPL helps funds the purchase of supplemental Library materials, including books, DVD’s, audiobooks and ebooks. This past fiscal year, FFRPL helped fund themed Toy Library learning backpacks, additional sewing machines for the Arts Division, and popular Empire Passes for free vehicle entry into NYS Parks ˗̶ all available for loan. Through the successful Retirees’ Challenge, FFRPL also raised money to help fund online Overdrive eBook purchases for MCLS.
