A dream more than 50 years in the making became reality Tuesday when the Patchogue-Medford Library cut the ribbon on its new $6 million Medford branch.

Several hundred people showed up to celebrate and for a sneak peek inside the 5,000-square-foot library, which is located in the Medford Athletic Complex.

The guests wandered through the children’s reading room, checked out the comfy chairs set up in front of the fireplace, and sat down at tables in the community meeting room, which includes a grand piano donated by the late Dr. Charles Pilger, a veterinarian whose office was in Medford.

“It’s just remarkable,” said Nerina Sperl, treasurer of the Medford Hamlet Foundation. “To see a beautiful building like this, which means so much to the community, is very rewarding.’

It took a village to make the library happen.

The Medford Hamlet Foundation donated $1.4 million. The Town of Brookhaven donated the land. State grants and a buy-a-brick fundraising campaign also helped fund the project, which officially broke ground in April 2022.

The new branch will improve library access for Medford residents, who no longer have to travel to the main branch in Patchogue.

That’s something assemblyman Joe DeStefano remembers doing growing up in Medford.

“It was always a struggle having to go to Patchogue to the library when I was a young kid,” DeStefano said. “Coming from the city, there’s a library pretty much on every corner. We didn’t have that luxury.” 

It took an act of the New York State Legislature—sponsored by DeStefano and State Sen. Monica Martinez, whose district then included Medford—to allow the Town of Brookhaven to donate some parkland to build the library.

“It’s a wonderful thing for the Medford community,” Library Board of Trustees president Harold Trabold said. “It’s a wonderful thing for the Patchogue-Medford Library. We just hope the community uses it and participates in all our programs that we’re glad to have up here.’

Even before the library’s first full day of operations, several people were already lining up at the circulation desk to sign up for library cards.

“We’re going to have more library cardholders, and there will be more people reading books and learning new things,” Patchogue-Medford Library director Danielle Paisley said. The library already has 25,000 cardholders, she said.

Paisley said the plans for programming at the Medford branch include a summer reading program, exercise classes for seniors, and early childhood programming.

“Whatever the community wants, is what we want to do,” Paisley said.

The library is equipped with rooftop solar panels that help reduce electricity costs. The library also hopes to add some electric vehicle charging stations to the parking lot next year.