Readers Write: G.N. Library turns its back on books

My heart was broken today. 
I went to Great Neck House and saw the hundreds of books , orphans…waiting for a warm human hand to turn their pages.
I am writing because it is a damn shame that these books had to be removed. It was the library board who is at fault. not the librarians.
They are getting the flack. That’s not fair.  I know they want more books. I know they’re upset.  I know they are not to blame.
When a student at Hunter College, I worked part time in a library and know that to be a librarian you must love books and you must love sharing them.
Who was present when the design of the library was made? Who was present when the short, dwarf shelves were decided upon?
Who was present when the final plans were agreed upon?  
The staff wasn’t consulted in their final judgement. And remember, that staff is still working without a contract for five years. 
Is that fair? If this was GM or GE it would hit the headlines of the New York TImes. 
The board like sheep,  led by their president,  didn’t understand or give a darn for our Main Library.
During the process of discussing our main library they managed to switch and get the Lakeville Road library altered. They managed to work on that building.
They totally forgot about their original purpose which was to alter the Main Building.  
I know the board is at fault. Didn’t they okay the blueprints?
Didn’t they discuss it with the architects? Didn’t they know that the shelves were shorter & there were less of them? 
Tell me how could they have agreed?
 I’ll tell you a secret. 
There was no love lost on the Main Library as the president of the board used the Lakeville Road satellite and only wanted to work on that in spite of the fact that that was a rented builiding.    
Surely not the librarians. It was the board. 
The Main Library looks sterile, empty of warmth, charm or any kind of feeling.
I used to walk in and feel it’s bookish arms embracing me.
I agree in total with Rebecca R. Gilliar. She “got it.”
The new director, unfortunately was “caught”  and knew nothing of the pat history so she is innocent.
 Saying that our Main Library is beautiful is the Emperor’s  Clothes.
 We need more shelves & if that library is to succeed we must get more shelves..There’s so much empty space it’s absurd like Waiting For Godot….waiting & waiting for more books…There’s so much damned space before the children’s library entrance and other areas we can use them in a clever manner.
It can be done.
Never tell me that the librarians want to get rid of the books. That’s hogwater! It’s the president of the board who was determined to undermine this library  
She was president many years ago and Madge Kaplan, who was honored for her community spirit, bless her memory, and her friend Alice, an officer of the library, sorry forgot her last name, used to tell me what a tough time they had in getting rid of her in the past,  as she tried to do the same thing then.  
They did succeed but she has returned. 
Now she has succeeded and she had plenty of willing workers who were blind and deaf and dumb.
Don’t they know that each library has to be the best it can be? 
Don’t they know that it’s an important magnet, like the school districts?
 Libraries are like blood. They are our souls’ pulse…our brains’ creativity, our conscience, our souls in print. 
That’s why we tell stories. That’s why we read…to reinforce our values & to learn new ones.  Help! Let’s get more shelves, Higher shelves. 
It can be done. Nothing is impossible!
Muriel Weinstein
Great Neck
Author,
“When Louis Armstrong
Taught Me Scat,” 
“Play Louis! Play!”
bio of Armstrong’s youth
“What Women Will Do”
(chapbook of poems)