Parent reading a book to her child at the new Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Library

Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Branch Library

Library Hours:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 9 AM – 5 PM
Tuesday, Thursday: 1 PM – 5 PM
Saturday: for events only
Sunday: Closed

While the Family Partnership Center is under construction, please return here for updates.

Two children looking at a science beaker in awe

Discovery Science

Every month, the Mid-Hudson Discovery Museum will be visiting the Sadie Peterson Delaney Library Branch to create some amazing science experiments and talk about important people in the science world that not everyone has heard about. For kids grade 1-5.

Join us for coding with bots and learn some facts about the scientist Katherine Johnson.

Thursday, February 20, 3:30pm – 4:30pm. Register here

the back of a woman with a book reading to toddlers who are smiling

Bilingual Family Story Time
Fridays: 10:30 – 11 AM

Join us for stories, music, and crafts in English and Spanish. For families with children ages 1 to 5.

On View at Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Branch Library

Rocks and Minerals from Kayleigh Hartnett'scollection

Rock and Mineral Collection of Kayleigh Hartnett

January 2 – 28

Celebrating the African Spirit logo

Celebrating the African Spirit exhibits in honor of Black History Month

February 1 – 28

About Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Branch Library:

The Family Partnership Center building was formerly Poughkeepsie High School and later Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic High School. The library occupies the same space that housed the schools’ libraries. The branch will have a particular focus on early literacy as an important developmental step for children. The original African Roots Library collection that occupied this space is curated through a partnership between the Library Action Committee and the Poughkeepsie Public Library District.

The branch is named in honor of Sadie Peterson Delaney, who attended Poughkeepsie High School and was active in the Smith Metropolitan AME Zion Church. She went on to serve as Chief Librarian at the Veterans Administration Hospital Library in Tuskegee, Alabama, where her work in Bibliotherapy received international attention.

Learn more about Sadie Peterson Delaney via our Local History Blog or by visiting Dutchess County Historical Society‘s recording program about Sadie P. Delaney.

Sadie Peterson Delaney at her desk with a sign that reads "Books break the tedious hospital hours and minimize illness". Image courtesy of Tuskegee University Archives