Cromaine District Library has served the Hartland area since 1927. We plan to continue serving another 80 years and more as your public library in whatever form that may take. As one of the first institutions conceived and created through the beneficence of J. Robert Crouse, this library will continue to offer enriched cultural, arts, and literary experiences to all of this area. We are grateful for the diversity that is reflected in a community that crosses the Township borders of Brighton, Deerfield, Genoa, Hartland, Oceola, and Tyrone, and that encompasses the new, “green” Wal-Mart and Meijer to the registered historic sites of the Hartland Music Hall, St. Augustine’s Catholic Church, and Tom Walker’s Grist Mill in Parshallville and more.

Certainly in 1927, the plethora of technology from desktop computers to handheld personal assistants was not yet anticipated.  No one likely envisioned a public library that wasn’t stacks and stacks of books with little concern for people space, other than a read-aloud chair for the librarian’s once a week story time.

People have evolved to require much more information for personal pursuits of individual passions, not all of which can be found now in books or even print. Public libraries have evolved right along with you to offer as much as possible that supports and encourages your passionate journeys of the mind in print, electronic, human, and experiential formats.

You’ll find in the following pages some of the accomplishments in service that Cromaine has brought to the community in 2008-2009, as well as what we recognize as some of our challenges going forward. There are statistics that tell you how much we are used and a financial picture that shows your much-appreciated support.

Today more than ever before, your journey begins here.