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Community Corner

#94: The Garden City Public Library

Something for everyone.

Do you need Wi-Fi for your laptop? A DVD on the first season of TV’s Mad Men?How about help with your taxes? Looking for discounts to museums? Trying to find the perfect book to read on vacation THAT NEEDS TO BE IN LARGE PRINT? What about a book club? How about those small digital audio books called “Playaways?" Want to get some culture by viewing paintings? 

The Garden City Public Library (GCPL) has everything mentioned above and a lot more. It is hard to believe the GCPL started in the 1950s with just books and magazines to check out, and now has so many services.

Dr. Carolyn Voegler is the library director. She has accomplished much in her two years at GCPL. “We now have e-mail notification for books that are due, Facebook in the Children’s Room, many story times, classroom outreach, book discussions and downloadable e-books with a knowledgeable staff. We are number one or two in children’s programs in Nassau. We have a library board that is supportive and a community that is responsive. We’re moving towards efficiency. We are also one of 54 libraries in the Nassau County Library System with ALIS- the Automated Library Information System,” she said, saving the library thousands of dollars.

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Gloria Weinrich, vice president of the library board of trustees, concurred. “We do this all with only nine full-time librarians while being open 66 hours per week.  It’s a tremendous responsibility.” On another note, she added, “We have the biggest large-print collection of books in the county.”

Laura Flanagan is a reference librarian with innovative ideas. She started “Books in a Bag.” She explained, “Garden City is a big reading community with book clubs for the last 25 years. There are always new people coming in. They can establish a book club with these ‘Books in a Bag’ that have ten copies of a title, a large print book, a sound recording and a packet that consists of discussion questions, reviews and author interviews. People have six weeks to read them. As a result we have a lot of new book clubs.”

Find out what's happening in Garden Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The 40 titles include Sarah’s Key, Strength of What Remains, Malachai, A Vintage Affair and Room.

A favorite among library-goers are the new Playaways. “My father uses it. It’s easy to use while walking and it appeals to all ages. And there is no additional cost to rent them,” adds Flanagan.

Susan Nolan, also a reference librarian, had the idea of “Cozy Up With a Good Book” for the Adult Reading Club. Residents can sign up and list every book they read to earn chances for prizes. Businesses in Garden City generously donate the prizes. Merchants include Ben Paulino/Annastasia's Beauty Salon, Calagero's, Garden City Hotel, Garden City Pizza, Kings, Pear Tree, Walk Street and many more.

In the Young Adult section of the library you can find Marge Kelly. “Where else can you go to stay warm and dry, get to hang out with your friends in your own space with Internet access and the most comfy chairs? In addition there are always new and fun programs for you to join,” she said.

Barbara Grace is head of Children’s Services since 2009. She has a Reader’s Advisory, 16 story times a week, two class visits per week, four book discussions per season, “Mother Goose” for the really young ones, “Story Time” for grades kindergarten through first grade, “Chapter Chat” for second graders, “Book Ends” for grades three through five, all with age-appropriate literature. She commented, “We have very supportive patrons and a great staff.”

For more information, visit www.GardenCityPL.org or call 742-8405.

Come back next Tuesday at 10 a.m. for suggestion #93. Click here if you missed suggestion #95.

Category:  Public services

Price:  Free

Season:  Year-round

Note:  two-hour parking

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