SCHENECTADY LIBRARY THRIVES WITH FUNDING FROM COUNTY.(MAIN)

Byline: ELIZABETH BENJAMIN Staff writer

It seems unassuming with its drab, concrete exterior and boxlike architecture, but the Schenectady County Public Library is one of a kind.

It's an urban library that is not only surviving, but thriving at a time when other city facilities are crumbling.

It's the only library in the Capital Region -- and one of two in the state -- funded by the county. Nearly 90 percent of the Schenectady library's almost $4 million annual budget comes from the county's taxpayers. Most urban libraries rely on hard-pressed municipalities to fund their operations.

Director Ronald Lagasse oversees all nine branches of the system -- the Rotterdam, Niskayuna, Glenville and Scotia libraries and four sites in Schenectady neighborhoods.

Lagasse said his libraries are well funded because counties traditionally focus on social services.

``Counties fund the Health Department, Social Services, the jail and the nursing home,'' Lagasse said. ``They understand and appreciate that libraries also serve people who need information.''

Schenectady is the central library and main research facility of the 13-library Mohawk Valley system. Designed to serve a population base of 150,000 people, the Schenectady library has about 60,000 registered borrowers.

The system has about 498,000 books in its collection, Lagasse said, and about 300,000 of them are located in the main library on Clinton Street in Schenectady.

Increasingly popular is the Small Business Center where would-be entrepreneurs can search a database of 11 million business addresses throughout the nation and get brochures with instructions on writing a business plan.

``People are amazed that we have such a thing,'' said Timothy McGowan, head of reference. ``They think of the library as a place to do reports with their kids, not a source of help for small businesses.''

Database access is just one of the library's recent nods to the technology age. There are also five computer terminals with Internet access -- one with graphics and four with text only. There is a one-hour time limit on these computers, Lagasse said, but if no one is waiting to browse the Web, patrons can stay on as long as they like.

Lagasse said he has noted a 10 to 15 percent increase in patron requests for information from the reference desk over the past 10 years, and he believes that trend will continue.

``People are increasingly coming to the library not to find a good read, but in search of information in all aspects,'' Lagasse said.

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PHOTOS BY PAUL BUCKOWSKI/TIMES UNION SISTERS Veronica Brown, 12, and Rachel Brown, 6, work with an educational program on computer at the Schenectady County Public Library. SCHENECTADY COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY is the only library in the Capital Region funded by a county. The library, with about 300,000 books, is part of the Mohawk Valley Library System. BOB DONNELLY of Schenectady takes time to read a newspaper at the Clinton Street library.