The Port Washington Public Library is an amazing resource, and it is a shame more people don’t know about it.
That was the sentiment among several of the four candidates vying to fill two spots on the library’s Board of Trustees.
“You can borrow a telescope, you can borrow a Go Pro, they have all these programs and I didn’t even know about them until I went onto the library’s website,” said one candidate, Tania Danielson.
The library’s Board of Trustees consists of seven members, including President John O’Connell. One member, Thomas Donoghue, is not running again. Michael Krevor is looking to maintain his spot on the board while Danielson, Stephanie Salzbank and Sima Vasa each seek to become a trustee for the first time.
Danielson has experience with books through her work as a research librarian for the law firm Schulte Roth and Zabel for the past three years and as a reference librarian for 12 years before that. She served one year on the board of the Law Library Association of New York.
She said that she was inspired to run by an ad she saw calling for trustee candidates.
“I thought, I’ve always wanted to do this, so I went to the library and filled out a petition,” she said. “I feel I can give a lot to the library.”
She said that more should be done to attract residents who might not think of a library as a resource, particularly teenagers.
“The library can be a safe space for them,” she said.
Sima Vasa, an 18-year resident of Port Washington, said the library was like a second home to her family. She believes working as a trustee is a way for her to give back to a place that has given her family so much. Vasa has spent a lot of her time at the board meetings, learning as much as she can about its operations.
“I’m learning what the challenges and opportunities are,” she said. “I believe I can help because the change in technology, I have a lot of experience with that and with general budget management.”
Vasa is an entrepreneur and business owner who specializes in digital technology. She said that she wanted to make sure that the library kept up with ever-improving technology.
“[The library] has to continue to stay relevant,” she said.
She also wanted to do more to get the word out about the library. One idea she suggested was to hold a 5K run that starts at the building.
“People would have to go inside to register, and it would be a way to get them in the door and give them a sense of what the library is all about,” she said. “Also, I love to run.”
Like Danielson, Stephanie Salzbank has a background in libraries. She was the acting librarian at the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County.
“I saw what happens to a library that doesn’t expand and update,” she said of her time there. “I want to make sure this never happens to our Port Washington Library.”
She also saw running for trustee as a way to give back to Port Washington.
“I decided that it was important for me to become active in our community and not just talk about what I want to see happen but actually act and become involved,” she wrote in an email.
Salzbank said that the library should be an inclusive space with programs that reach out to all people in Port Washington. And while she understood the library’s push toward digital, she said it was important to keep “traditional forms” of reading.
Krevor, who is a retired attorney, could not be reached.
