Great Neck Library moves on branch renovations and books

Janelle Clausen
The Station branch library will be getting a makeover. (Photo courtesy of MDA designgroup)
The Station branch library will be getting a makeover. (Photo courtesy of MDA designgroup)

The Great Neck Library Board of Trustees took a step toward updating its three branch libraries on Tuesday night, beginning a search for contractors for two branches and purchasing more than $13,000 of furniture for a third.

Trustees voted to send out requests for proposals for contractors to renovate the Station and Parkville branches, located in Great Neck Plaza and New Hyde Park, and keep the bidding open for a month.

Paired with this is the approval of a pre-construction survey and asbestos analysis for the Parkville branch, which is a necessary part of the renovation process.

Conceptual plans were first approved in July.

Trustees also approved the purchase of $13,644 worth of furniture for the Lakeville branch library, including mid-back mesh task chairs, Kite 750 Series mobile tables, Casper-style chairs and read around circles.

In other library business, Great Neck Library Director Denise Corcoran said new shelving has been delivered and installed in the Main Library. The library staff is also working on “balancing our collection throughout Main and all of our branches,” she said.

The balancing is particularly focusing on foreign language books, Corcoran noted, and librarians also plan to order movies in original languages instead of subtitled. She is also working with the Queens Library on a list of books to get.

“The departments have been ordering like crazy,” Assistant Library Director Tracy Geiser said. “We have a ton of different foreign language items coming in as well. We’re making those priority, along with the regular reserves that come in.”

The library could also be getting a number of art books back from the Great Neck House, Corcoran said, and potentially others as she negotiates with Rebecca Rosenblatt Gilliar and Great Neck Park District Superintendent Jason Marra.

In 2016, in the wake of the renovation of the Main Library, Gilliar helped spearhead a book bazaar in the Great Neck House – part of the Great Neck Park District – to return to the community thousands of books that were being weeded out.

Corcoran also announced that the local history room at Main has posted its hours online. The hours are 1 to 3 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, according to the library website.

“We have a lot of exciting things happening with the library and the collection,” Corcoran said.

In unrelated business, trustees approved the library director’s annual salary at $157,500, plus $7,500 in recognition of the job she has done so far.

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