Petition calls for library access

About 2,300 people in Muttontown, Matinecock and the three Brookvilles -- one of the nation's wealthiest areas -- will soon decide whether to remain without a core community staple: the public library.

If a petition submitted Monday is validated, village residents will vote Oct. 25 on forming a funding district to join one of three nearby libraries.

"It's one of the last unserved areas in Nassau County," said Suzanne Koch, director of Oyster Bay-East Norwich Public Library, one option for voters in the five villages. "We're working together because we feel it's important."

The other libraries to be considered are Locust Valley and Gold Coast in Glen Head. Oyster Bay-East Norwich has a $1.78 million tax levy for the 13,428 residents it serves; Locust Valley, $1.44 million for 7,040 residents, and Gold Coast, $1.38 million for 10,974 people.

Per capita, Oyster Bay-East Norwich and Gold Coast tax levies amount to about $130 a year. In Locust Valley the $204 per-person annual levy includes tennis court use and merchant discounts.

If voters approve the funding district, they will then choose which library to join. Their tax levy would be the same as the residents already served.

"For whatever reason, folks in that area in the past felt they didn't need a library," said Libby Post, who runs an Albany communications firm specializing in library campaigns. "But now, libraries have changed, and everyone needs one for different reasons."

State law requires that residents who don't pay into a library district be able to get limited-access cards through local systems. The number affected in Nassau is now about 5,000 people, down from 55,000 a decade ago, according to library officials.

But at most branches the card simply allows basic borrowing, excluding in-demand new arrivals and digital media, home access to Web databases and early program registration.

Legislation a decade ago by state Sen. Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset) and then-Assemb. David Sidikman (D-Old Bethpage) allowed residents to vote on forming new library districts or joining established systems. With the law expiring, library proponents in the Oyster Bay villages decided to act.

"Most people don't say, 'I want to move to an area without a library,' " said Jackie Thresher, director of the Nassau Library System. "They're really surprised when they learn they don't have one."

The three libraries, working with Thresher and Post, gathered 140 signatures in Muttontown, Matinecock, Brookville, Upper Brookville and Old Brookville. It wasn't easy -- area homes can be spread over acres, with long, gated driveways -- but they're hoping all residents will benefit from having full library access.

"Google is wonderful, but what do you do with 2 1/2 million hits?" said Janis Schoen, Locust Valley's library director. "We serve a purpose, even with online research."