Timeline People Services

delighted to find a copy of Mark Twain’s “The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine,” a posthumous book for young readers published in 2017, for the bargain price of $1.

6:45 p.m.

While Kyoungran is answering a question about printing fees and remote printing, Ken is renewing a card for Mario Yepes-Baraya, a resident of Lawrence Township who pays an annual fee of $75 for a senior non-resident card. Ken waives a fee during this transaction and when Mario’s wife, Jean Yepes, joins him at the desk, Ken remembers that Jean is an English Conversation Group volunteer and they chat about the program.

6:52 p.m.

Princeton High School 12th-grader Benjamin Nuland asks Ken to confirm a room rental for Saturday between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Ken confirms the rental, which is a meeting of the municipal Human Services Commission with high school students to hear their concerns, and covers the food and drink requirements for the room. Benjamin asks to speak with Kim Dorman, the library’s community engagement coordinator, who happens to be covering an author talk in the Community Room.

6:58 p.m.

Laura Gaetjens is ready to check out when her husband, Dr. John Cotton, is recognized by another library cardholder, whose child was a patient of Dr. Cotton. During the conversation, Dr. Cotton remembers he has an item on the Hold Pickup Shelf, a compact disc recording of a Tchaikovsky symphony.

7:11 p.m.

Hana Kahn comes to the desk to check out her Interlibrary Loan “Le Côté de Guermantes,” a volume of Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time” in French, which was borrowed from the Burke Library at Hamilton College. The exquisitely bound book, the third of seven volumes of what was previously known in English as “Remembrance of Things Past,” is a second edition dating from 1920.

7:15 p.m.

As the reporter and photojournalist leave the desk, a customer on her way upstairs stops to ask when the library building will close. With a smile, Ken replies, “We’re here till 9.”

MARIO YEPES-BARAYA is a resident of Lawrence. Though he is a regular visitor to the Headquarters Branch of the Mercer County Library in Lawrence, he is one of 965 people who pay a fee for a Princeton Public Library card. (Mario pays a $75 per year senior rate; his wife, Jean, gets a free card because of her work as an English Conversation class volunteer.) “The people here are nice and very helpful,” Mario said, gesturing toward the Checkout Desk. “Mercer County’s collection is good; this collection is great. The cultural programming is a plus.”

NON-RESIDENT CARDS

Free library cards are available to residents of the Municipality of Princeton and to a wide variety of individuals, including property and business owners; and students and faculty of public schools and all institutions of higher learning located in Princeton; first responders; and municipal employees. People who don’t fit into these groups are invited to purchase a card for a fee, which is discounted for senior citizens, employees of local businesses and students attending private schools in Princeton.

English Conversation Groups

As a town with a large community of native speakers of world languages, the library has long offered classes for those learning English. The library is one of several partner institutions working with English language learners. Since 2016, the library’s focus has been on conversation groups, which allow speakers of multiple world languages to build skills through guided dialogue. The groups, which are designed for those with intermediate and advanced English skills, meet four times a week, both in person and virtually.

BENJAMIN NULAND is a 12th-grader at Princeton High School, where he plays on the soccer team, performs in theater productions and is active in social justice initiatives. He was honored by library partner Not in Our Town Princeton with a Unity Award for his antiracism work at PHS.

Room Rentals

In addition to nine free study rooms, which cardholders can use for up to two hours a day, the library has four rooms