Mimi Hu seeks to boost community involvement with Great Neck Library

Janelle Clausen
Liman Mimi Hu hopes to join the Great Neck Library Board of Trustee. (Photo from LinkedIn)
Liman Mimi Hu hopes to join the Great Neck Library Board of Trustee. (Photo from LinkedIn)

Mimi Hu, describing herself as an “old fashioned” book lover, said the spark for her campaign to become a Great Neck Library board trustee came in 2016, not long after the Main Library reopened after a two-year renovation.

“Books were about to be thrown into dumpsters and someone rescued them, putting boxes and boxes of books away in the Great Neck House,” Hu said in a phone interview, referring to a book bazaar that sought to return books to the community. “That was how everything started.”

After that, Hu said, she started paying closer attention to library board affairs.

Hu is one of a slate of candidates endorsed by the Great Neck Library’s Nominating Committee, which vets and recommends people for various positions – including trustee.

Hu was endorsed for the seat of Robert Schaufeld, the current library board president, who is running as an independent candidate for the seat of Francine Ferrante Krupski against Scott Sontag, who was endorsed by the Nominating Committee.

Hu, currently in her third year of law school, said she has served on the board of directors of the nonprofit Great Neck Chinese Association for four years, where she has done a number of community engagement programs, and written for the Great Neck Record.

Hu also served on the United Parent-Teacher Council, or UPTC, for a year – when her son was in pre-K – and is now involved with the Saddle Rock Parent Teacher Association.

“I think that’s quite involved,” Hu said.

One of the issues Hu said is important to her is advocating for a greater number of foreign language books, especially since many new members of the Asian-American community are coming from Queens and the boroughs, where they’re “used to borrowing Chinese language books from the library.”

“I do feel that some people I know are frustrated. Some members from my community wanted to have more Chinese language books and they didn’t know how to have access to voice concerns at their library,” Hu said. “I think we can do a little bit more with that.”

Hu, a first generation immigrant, said going to the libraries in the United States was really “eye opening.” While China, where she grew up, has its own libraries, she said they are more of a “social center” here that more people should take advantage of.

“For me it’s really an essential part of American culture and I like that,” Hu said. “I hope I can get our immigrant community [involved] because a lot of people are not familiar with what the library can provide.”

Hu said that she believes the Great Neck Library, which had a “really high” turnover rate with its library directors, now has a “good director” in Denise Corcoran, who was appointed earlier this year.

“I think we are probably heading towards a good direction, but I want to get more involved,” Hu said.

Previous directors in the last five years, interim and not, include Jane Marino, who resigned after a $20.8 million bond referendum was defeated, Laura Weir, Chris Johnson and Kathy Giotsas. Giotsas began serving in Aug. 3, 2015, before Tracy Geiser took over as interim director in May 2017 following Giotsas’ termination.

When asked about what she would hope to accomplish or push for in the first hundred days, Hu said the job “involves a lot of responsibility” and that she’d prefer to learn first.

“My personal preference is to really get to know the system and to understand the workings and concerns and really help people to voice concerns instead of bringing my proposals out,” Hu said.

The Nominating Committee also selected David Zielenziger to run for Joel Marcus’ seat, Scott Sontag for Francine Ferrante Krupski’s seat, and Trustee Josie Pizer to run for the seat vacated by Douglas Hwee following the board voting to terminate him for alleged misconduct.

The committee also nominated three people for Nominating Committee seats: Krupski for Howard Esterce’s seat, William Gens for Donald Panetta’s seat, and Alex Au for Samuel Gottlieb’s seat, which was vacated not long after his election last year.

Great Neck Library elections will take place on Monday, Oct. 29.

The election comes as the Great Neck Library’s Board of Trustees plans to move forward on a number of projects like a landscaping project for the main building, renovations in two branch libraries and upgrading the book collection.

Correction: This article incorrectly implied that Mimi Hu is running against Robert Schaufeld; Hu is running for Schaufeld’s seat, while Schaufeld is competing against Scott Sontag for Francine Krupski’s seat.

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