Great Neck Library director Jane Marino , who presided over expansions to the library’s Station and Parkville branches and contentious debates over the future of the Main branch in her three years in office, is resigning from her position.
Marino told the Great Neck News her resignation was based on a variety of reasons, most of which were personal.
“Since my contract was expiring in December, I thought I’d take the opportunity to leave,” she said.
Marino’s last day will be Dec. 28.
The outgoing director said she told the board of her decision on Oct. 5, and it was announced publicly at a board meeting Dec. 4.
The board will be forming an search committee to find a replacement. Marino said the board hopes to appoint an interim director by the end of the year.
“There are a couple of people who they hope to interview in the next week or so,” Marino said.
Marino’s tenure has been marked by controversy.
A $20.8 million bond to expand the library’s Main branch was voted down in a landslide this summer after a heated debate and opposition by the “Library Watchdog Group” – an assembly of library members, including former trustees. The opponents said the expansion was unnecessary and too costly.
Marino is also leaving in the midst of labor negotiations with the library’s staff, who have been engaged in talks with the administration for more than a year without agreement on a contract.
Marino acknowledged mistakes in the library administration’s handling of the Main branch expansion proposal, saying the plan suffered from a lack of public trust and engagement.
“Clearly the building referendum did not turn out as I had hoped,” said Marino. “What it taught is that we need to listen to the community a lot more carefully on things like that.”
According to Marino, those lessons have been learned.
She said current plans to renovate the branch have been driven by a building advisory committee that includes representation from library members.
“I think when you have an ownership by the public in any project they will view it more favorably,” Marino said.
“[The failure of the bond referendum] was a disappointment at the time, but over all it was a good thing,” Marino added, saying the voting down of the original expansion plan allowed the board to realize the money that could be saved through renovation.
Marino described a heavily politicized atmosphere during her tenure, saying the sniping and constant criticism impeded the library’s ability to function.
“I think it’s more politicized than it needs to be. As librarians, we’re just trying to make people’s lives better. That’s all we’re trying to do,” said Marino. ““Becoming a political foot ball is not something that’s going to move any library forward.”
Marino also took issue with criticism of her personal performance.
Critics have said that Marino’s commute from Westchester County has led to an abbreviated work schedule – a charge Marino denied, saying she often spent late nights at the library before her long ride home.
“I think it’s not only untrue but unfair. I don’t plan on justifying myself or the time that I spend to anybody, but I have spent many hours at this job and I have not let the commute stay in my way,” she said. That accusation sounds really good on paper, but it’s just not true.”
Marino said she was proud of her accomplishments in managing the library, which she said has an $8.5 million budget and employs the equivalent of 85 full time workers.
Citing a major expansion of the Station branch, an ongoing expansion of the Parkville branch in concert with the Great Neck School District and the organization of an event series that has brought 30 authors to library branches since 2010, Marino described areas of progress since she was hired as director.
Marino also touted the introduction of additional programming to the Lakeville branch.
“That’s resulted in a big increase to their circulation,” she said.
A resident of White Plains, Marino got her start as a librarian in the children’s section of the White Plain Library. She worked there from 1989 through 1994, before heading children’s services at the Scarsdale library until 2003, when she took over as director of the Bronxville library – the position she held before assuming the Great Neck post in 2009.
“It was something that came about because I love books and I love reading,” Marino said of her decision to become a librarian as a young mother. “I sounds really kind of hokey, but that is actually what happened.”
Marino said she did not have firm career plans, but hoped to find work in a library closer to her White Plains home.
