Library use hits an all-time high with over 840,000 items loaned and more than 550,000 visitors. The library’s website is accessed by more than 12,000 people each month.The Library Board of Trustees responds to the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act and adopts a policy in defense of the confidentiality of library records. Author Pete Hamill is honored with the 5th annual Westport Library Award at the Booked for the Evening event. The Friends of the Westport Library turn the Library into Hogwarts School for the June 21 release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. More than 200 children attend. Angela Arcudi McKelvey receives the Friends of the Library Special Friend Award. At the second WestportREADS, the community reads Snow in August by Pete Hamill. The Library adopts Leading the Way: A Strategic Plan for the Westport Library, 2004 – 2007, responding to focus groups and a town meeting on the future of the Library.The Malloy Lecture in the Arts features a conversation with playwrights Arthur Miller and Tom Cole. The audience numbers 700, including actor Gene Wilder, who participates in the conversation. The Library completes the Technology Appeal, raising more than $110,000 for new computer equipment, and establishes a new lecture series, Technology Talks.
