Library to see huge grant in coming months

Patrons at the Elmont Library, especially in the childrens and young adults section, are in for some big changes in the coming months. Construction of two big projects could commence over the next year as the library has been promised more than $100,000 from state Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington).

Johson, whose district includes portions of Elmont including the Belmont Racetrack and the library itself said it was easy to promise the money to the library, knowing what a valuable resource it was to the community and the young people who visit.

“After having a terrific experience and partnership with them, we were able to secure these monies for various projects in the community, and we thought the library would be a perfect recipient,” Johnson said. “They do a lot of great work.”

According to Library Director Maggie Gough, the grants will be put towards two major capital projects in the library. One, a young adult gaming and entertainment room, and another a parent-child learning annex for the children and families library section.

Gough said she was thrilled to be able to conceive of such a project at a time when many libraries are scaling back or shutting down children and young adult sections.

“This is really just going to be a place where [young adults] can come — a big draw for them — both informative and entertaining,” Gough said. “This is really a place to meet the needs of our young people and give them something to do besides just their homework. It engages kids, they don’t have a lot of places to go here.”

The parent-child learning annex will be placed in the children’s section of the library, already a portion of the building with a more whimsical feel, and Gough hopes to continue that by visualizing it as an area that’s as imaginative as it is educational.

“What we’re looking at is four computers with large interactive screens, for multiple families to work on at once, and in my minds-eye I see it as a kind of enchanted village,” she said. She said she hoped it would blend in well, an area set aside with birds painted on the walls, and inviting benches for people to sit down on and participate as a family.

The young adult gaming room is being envisioned as a sound-proof area — Gough compared it to the cone of silence on television’s “Get Smart” — and said it was a place where teenagers could be teenagers without infringing on the activities of other library patrons who come especially for the quiet. The idea, she said, came from rooms already used in libraries in the nearby Queens

system.

“We’ve seen them in various prototypes, they’re building them in the Queens Library System, as silent rooms,” she said. “And inasmuch as they’ve perfected it we’re going to adapt the ideas.”

For Johnson, the project was practically a no-brainer. Elmont’s library usage, especially in the new facility, is a community activity that local leaders are trying to encourage, and they believe the building itself will keep drawing as long as the attraction continues to evolve.

“This is a project that is going to do some really great things for the young people, “ Johnson said. “It’s not just about getting and taking out books. The library needs to be a magnet for young adults to go during the day, a place that’s an additional learning source.”

The money, $105,000 exactly, comes from two state sources; the state dormitory authority is responsible for $100,000 in capital funds, while Johnson earmarked $5,000 of his state Senate member items budget to go towards overages that could occur in the course of construction.

It’s money that Gough believes is going to be a huge boost, especially when it comes to putting the library in a 21st Century mindset.

“We really need to beef up the technology,” she said. “It’s just about addressing the needs of our patrons.”

For the time being, without the money in hand, Gough said she couldn’t put a timetable on when finished concepts and construction could be started. If it were up to her, the improvements would start as early as tomorrow, she said, but practicality is forcing the library to wait.

Ultimately, Gough said, the library will benefit hugely from its new additions, when every they arrived.

“I want it to be friendly, there’s this image of librarians as carrying around this big bag of ‘shush,’” she said. “But this is not your standard library.”