Rockville Centre library to celebrate 130-year anniversary

A working example of the village’s deep and storied history, the Rockville Centre Public Library, is celebrating 130 years of existence on April 29 with a newly created documentary titled “Check it Out! The History of the Rockville Centre Public Library.”

The current address of the library, 221 N. Village Ave., is its fifth iteration and the upcoming anniversary will also be dedicated to 50 years in the location.

Alene Scoblete, the library’s archivist, first decided to create a documentary detailing the library’s history while at a 2009 conference workshop about preserving Long Island’s history.

“I feel that people will learn a lot of details about the history of the library and see what a presence we have been in the community,” Scoblete said. “It’s important that we preserve this history.”

Scoblete began extensive preparation and research for the 20-minute film in 2009, sifting through old books, photos, directors reports, meeting minutes and flyers.

The filming began in July 2011, with Rob Lichter, a teacher at South Side High School, taking over camera work and film editing. The music was designed and created by composer Stephen Principato, while resident Bob Wolf provided narration for the documentary. Scoblete wrote and directed the film, the first movie she has created.

For the documentary, Scoblete interviewed a number of people, including former heads of library departments and Virginia Stanton, a former assistant director in the 1960s.

“It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve learned a lot from it,” Scoblete said. “I’ve worked with a lot of wonderful people. I just don’t plan on doing it again. I’m not a filmmaker.”

In addition to showing the documentary every half hour, on the quarter hour, between 1 and 5 p.m., the library will have performances by the ADLIB steel drum orchestra. There will also be a balloon artist on hand, attendees will be encouraged to create origami for the library’s thousand-paper cranes project and a new mural will be presented in the Children’s Room.

The library will also provide cake and other refreshments.

While the Rockville Centre Public Library’s location and format has undergone numerous changes in its 130-year history, and Scoblete insists that despite increasing trend toward electronic readers, the library is here to stay.

“You’ll always have libraries and you’ll always need people to help you search. It’s just that the technology changes and we change along with them,” Scoblete said. “We’ll still be lending out books. It’s just the format will be electronic. But we’ll still be a meeting place for the community.”