The Great Neck Public Library Board of Trustees announced during a special meeting on Thursday that interim director Laura Weir would retire from the library system, effective Dec. 26.
Weir, who has been the interim director of the library since January of 2013, sent a letter to the board of trustees notifying them of her impending retirement, library President Marietta DiCamillo said.
“Laura has really pitched in during a time when it was needed,” DiCamillo said. “We would like to express our sincere appreciation for her years of work.”
Weir, who joined the library system on Oct. 7, 2002 as assistant director, said on Tuesday that she announced her decision to step down because she’s “been looking forward to retirement for quite some time.”
“I have a number of interests I wish to pursue and I’m looking forward to that,” she said.
Weir, a resident of Little Neck, added that she has had plans to retire for a few months, but decided to stay on through the end of the year to oversee the closing of the Main Branch for renovations.
“I stayed through the year because I felt responsible to stay as this Main Library closes,” she said. “If it wasn’t for that, I probably would have retired sooner.”
Weir said she will miss the staff of the Great Neck Public Library system, saying they have been “wonderful.”
“We have a staff that goes above and beyond,” she said. “They work hard to provide many services to the community.”
Weir said she was hired as assistant director for the library system to oversee the branches while the director supervised “several building projects.”
Weir was named the interim director of the library system following the resignation of former director Jane Marino on Dec. 28, 2012.
She said she had “no interest” in being named the permanent director.
Marino, who is now the director of the Nyack Library system in Rockland County, resigned following a contentious debate over a $20.8 million bond proposal to renovate the Main Branch. The bond proposal was overwhelmingly denied by residents in a referendum vote in 2011.
Weir was also the interim director of the Great Neck Library from 2007 to 2008, following the retirement of former director Arlene Nevens.
A director search committee had been formed in an effort to find a permanent replacement for Marino.
Library Trustee Francine Krupski, who chairs the director search committee, said the committee will be holding meetings in the near future to find a replacement for Weir.
“We would like to hire a director,” Krupski said.
Responding to questions from residents, she said the committee has interviewed several candidates for the job but has not found one they would like to hire.
DiCamillo said the board would do “our best to search for and hire the best [director] for the Great Neck Library.”
