NORTHUMBERLAND — The Priestley-Forsyth Memorial Library is taking steps to make sure its materials are available to those who may not be able to physically walk through the building’s front door.

Priestley-Forsyth workers take library supplies, mainly large-print books, each month to residents at Nottingham Village and the borough’s two mid-rises, The Pines and the Lewis Building.

“Sometimes people can’t make it to the library, so it’s important to take the library outside these walls,” library Director Lynn Williams said.

Library bookkeeper Dottie Fasold visits the homes monthly with bags of books, from fiction to nonfiction, for residents to borrow.

Priestley-Forsyth’s program is 10 years old, Fasold said, and is expanding through the services offered on the library’s Web site.

Williams also recently led Nottingham residents through a tutorial regarding the library’s Web site, through which they can download books to MP3 players or burn them to CDs, she said.

“It goes beyond bringing books to them,” Williams said. “It’s their virtual branch of the library.”

Additional Priestley-Forsyth programming has allowed seniors to register for library cards without having to visit the library, a service that Williams said is helping membership hold steady at nearly 5,000 cardholders.

Though youth services coordinator Kim King, the library also reaches out to children in the community, Williams said, and she believes the library should do the same for its older citizens.

“It’s making our seniors feel as important as everyone else in the community,” Williams said. “When you turn into a senior, it doesn’t mean you don’t have the same desires and favorite things.”

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