It has been an honor to lead the Great Neck Library as president these past two years, but our two-term limit for officers requires that I pass the baton to new leadership. I do so with confidence that the library is in good hands with our new president, Aliza Reicher, who will bring to bear her own vision and her own style on the difficult choices ahead.
Yes, even the library is constantly confronted with difficult choices. It ain’t all books and story time, let me tell you.
This remarkable institution is a $10 million operation, with four branches, a hundred employees, and a devoted patron base that rightfully insists that their money be spent wisely and that the library offers a diverse array of services and programs.
We have all the challenges that you might expect of a large organization providing a much beloved public service, all the while answerable to the public at monthly meetings where we conduct our business right out in the open. Any member of the public is free to stop by and give us their opinion on things, and believe me, many folks aren’t shy about doing so.
Every trustee brings to the job their particular skill set, their particular experience, and their particular interest in the library, with the mandate to work with their six colleagues on the board and the Library’s professional staff to represent the entire community’s interests in the success of the entire library. The whole is greater than just the sum of the parts.
When I ran for slot on the board of trustees, and then asked my colleagues to trust me with serving as president, I offered to combine my deep experience in government as a former member of the New York State assembly and New York City council with the deep familiarity with the library’s services and programs, and how they serve Great Neck’s various constituencies, that our other trustees brought to the table, to form a board capable of tackling the problems facing the Library.
First and foremost, a board must defend freedom at the library; the freedom to read what we want, think how we want, and explore the ideas that we want to explore. What could possibly be more American than that? And that freedom belongs to everyone. The library belongs to everyone.
The library is not yet another vehicle in this world for demonizing, stigmatizing, or marginalizing any member of our community. No books were taken off the shelves, put in a dark corner, banned, or, figuratively speaking, burned.
A board must also let the Library’s professional staff run the library. This is what they are trained to do, what they’ve dedicated their professional lives to doing, and what they do damn well. Let them do it.
The board makes policy, approves the budget, and oversees – but doesn’t run – the library’s day-to-day operations. We are blessed with a very capable team at the library from our director to our most junior staff member, and the board’s most important job is to take care of its business – policy, budget, and oversight — so that the staff can take care of theirs – the running of the Library.
The board takes care of its business through a commitment to good governance. This means being faithful to the rules and process in the bylaws, our policies, and, of course, the law; and being transparent and honest with the public, even when it doesn’t necessarily reflect wonderfully on the board. I’ve said many times: we debate, we vote, we move on.
I have not been on the winning side of every vote in my two years as president, and that’s ok. That’s democracy. That’s the rule of law.
Finally, the board needs to be unafraid to make hard decisions. Nothing is easier than kicking a can down the road so it becomes someone else’s problem in the future rather than bending down, picking it up, and dealing with it. And nothing is more destructive to an institution.
Trustees are chosen to make the decisions that need to be made. So do your homework, consult with experts, listen to your colleagues and the library’s professionals – and make a decision.
Being faithful to our role as a board, to principles of good governance, and to making hard choices, has enabled us to put a stop to intra-board squabbles that resulted in lawsuits and counter-lawsuits; to revise numerous library policies concerning overdue notices and fines, the conduct of meetings, the election and voting process, the annual audit, nominating committee procedures, digital surveillance, and access to records; to fill vacancies that arose on the board and the nominating committee with very well-qualified candidates; to update our collective bargaining and employment agreements with the library’s administrative staff to ensure that we’re competitive with other library systems; and to renovate the Parkville Branch and the Main Branch’s front entranceway, to complete the bidding to substantially modify the HVAC system at the Main Branch, and to commence the bidding on replacing the Main Branch roof.
Defending freedom, empowering the Library’s professional staff, adhering to principles of good governance, and making hard decisions now rather than later is what will continue to ensure the Great Neck Library’s excellence well into the future.
It has been an honor to serve as president of the Great Neck Library, and to continue to do so as a trustee.
