IT/reference librarian Rachel Rooney, library director Beth Kramer, and children's librarian Alexandra Pratt all help with passports at the library. — Courtesy West Tisbury library

Sure, the West Tisbury library has books, movies, workshops, lectures, a book group, conference rooms, and the like, but the U.S. Department of State has chosen to recognize it for something else — its work in getting you to destinations outside the U.S. as a passport acceptance facility. Beth Kramer, passport acceptance facility manager and library director, will travel to Washington, D.C., in February to receive the 2019 Special Recognition Award. The award letter states, “We received numerous nominations, and your facility clearly stood out as the exception by our National Awards Committee. The Department of State sincerely appreciates your facility’s commitment to providing quality passport acceptance services to our mutual customers.” Kramer is rightly proud of her team: “I think this is the first time a passport facility from our region has been chosen.”
Whether you are applying for the first time as an adult or minor, or have let your passport expire, the first step is to visit travel.state.gov, which, after you answer a number of questions, will take you to the right form. Now you set up an appointment and come in with a valid ID, birth certificate, the form, and your checkbook. One of the trained agents will verify everything, and then you put your John Hancock on the form in front of them. Nicely, they take care of the postage. (Renewals you can do yourself; just download the form, fill it out, and send it off.)
Last year the library processed almost 400 passports, which brought in $14,000 to the town of West Tisbury from the $35 processing fee. For the actual passport, a 10-year adult passport costs $110, and it’s $80 for a five-year passport for minors.
Kramer says that the library has been doing this work for about 25 years, as soon as the State Department decided to move passport services into libraries as well as Post Offices. They have an annual audit in which the State Department comes through and makes sure their materials are up to date and secure, and the library’s three agents are all trained. Kramer said she believes that “we got the award because every year we’ve done so well.”
Although the Dukes County Courthouse and the Vineyard Haven Post Office offer passport services too, Kramer says proudly that the library offers something unique, “because we are open seven days a week, and especially when families come in with children, the kids can sit down and read while we work with the parents. Then they come over and we identify them. It’s a much more relaxed atmosphere than having to stand in line.”
The West Tisbury library turns what could be a trying process into an easy experience.