Elmont Memorial Library to close branches

The Alden Manor and Stewart Manor branches of the Elmont Memorial Library system will close because of low circulation and cost-cutting efforts, the library board of trustees has announced.

Board vice president Patrick Nicolosi said the board decided to close the branches to avoid significantly raising taxes but that the closures had been years in the making.

The library had projected a 7.2 percent tax levy increase in 2012-13 — significantly above the 2 percent state tax cap — but will be able to keep taxes flat with the closures, Nicolosi said.

Residents will vote on the proposed budget on May 15.

The one full-time employee at each branch will be moved to the central library on Hempstead Turnpike where all activity will be centralized, Nicolosi said. The board has not discussed the future of the two part-time employees at each branch, he said.
The facilities that housed the branches were rented.

In 2011, circulation for the two branches totaled 23,412 items, a drop of 77 percent from 30 to 40 years ago, according to the library’s website.

Nicolosi said libraries everywhere are suffering from decreasing circulation. “It’s dramatic and it’s dramatic nationwide,” he said.

The release also noted that of the library’s 32,603 card holders, 450 used the Stewart Manor branch and 688 used Alden Manor.

Sal Zanfardino, who owns an insurance and income tax business on Covert Avenue, one block from the library, said it is used frequently by neighborhood kids and that he was sorry to hear it was closing. “It seems to be a mainstay here,” he said. “It’s good for the community.”