THE KIWANIS COMMUNITY LIBRARY - 1958 - 1961
The local Kiwanis Club was responsible for establishing library service in the community.
On July 14, 1958, the Kiwanis Community Library opened its doors to the public. It was located at 14 Roosevelt Avenue , Syosset , NY .
For several years prior to this, various residents, appalled at the lack of library facilities in an otherwise distinguished community, campaigned actively to obtain a public, tax-supported library. On two occasions, in 1956 and again in 1957, the issue was brought to a vote but failed to pass. Finally, in the autumn of 1957, the Kiwanis Club of Syosset, a service organization, undertook the establishment and initial support of a subscription library. That is, a library in which memberships would be sold directly to families that wanted to use it facilities.
The first step in this undertaking was to secure large sums of money needed to rent a building and renovate it for its new use. Volunteers canvassed their neighborhoods and persuaded more than 500 families to invest $5.00 apiece in a library that as yet had no building, no books, and no staff. In addition, PTAs, Civic associations and individuals contributed a total of $600. Had it not been for the pioneer faith of these charter subscribers and other friends, the library could not have come into being.
During these busy days the Kiwanis Club members had located the building at 14 Roosevelt Avenue and signed a lease for three years. For the next six months much work went on. Most of it by the members themselves in their spare time and without remuneration. Floors were reinforced to carry the weight of books, painting and decorating was done, shelving was purchased and installed and electric-panel heating was used as the most feasible, though not most economical way to insure heat. A total cost of $1,800 covered these alterations.
In a rented truck, two members of the Kiwanis Club drove to the State Library Extension Service in Albany , where they obtained approximately 3,300 books. These books were on loan for a period of one year. Mr. Henry Scherouse, Director of Traveling Libraries for the State of New York , was the person contacted for the loan of these books.
The library now had a building and books and most opportunely a volunteer librarian who had recently moved to the community and offered her services. She, with zealous but inexperienced helpers, classified books, processed them for the shelves and directed their placement in the various rooms of the library. Thousands of cards were typed and prepared and filed in the card catalogue. Finally after months of tremendous labor on the part of all involved, the library opened its doors to the public on July 14, 1958. Three months later a formal dedication ceremony was held at the library with Town dignitaries, Kiwanis Club officials and members of the School Board, attending. Supervisor Burns at that time, stated that this was a milestone in the growth of the town and thanked the Kiwanis Club for their work in this educational community project.
The Kiwanis Community Library continued to grow both in memberships and book collection. Through the generosity of local residents, hundreds of books were donated; some of them new, and various Civic organizations donated funds for the purchase of books for the library. In April 1960, to commemorate National Book Week, the library announced that at that time there were over 8,000 volumes on its shelves.
The library had an adult fiction room, which included a section devoted to mysteries and another to science fiction. The most recent books were then classified as 7-day books, and circulated one to a family. All other books were circulated for two weeks and could be renewed at the library for an additional two weeks. Available in the non-fiction room were books on Child Study, Social Sciences, Art and Recreation, Literature, including Plays and Poetry, History and Travel. The library also offered Biographies at adult, teen-age and juvenile levels.
The teen-agers had their own room, small but adequate. There were also mystery and non-fiction sections.
There was a Juvenile Room with a special table and chairs for the smaller folk. In addition to the juvenile fiction and non-fiction, there were books for the beginning-to-read and easy-to-read stories. There were picture books and a shelf for Little Golden Books. The non-fiction including the Junior Literary Guild Books, the "All About Book." The Junior Science books, in particular were commended for their variety.
Each Saturday morning at 11:00 there was a Story Hour held in the upstairs room at the library for all children between 5 and 9 years of age. There was no fee and all children were welcome.
In the non-fiction room, reference books such as the Complete Encyclopedia by Funk and Wagnalls, the World Book, Book of Popular Science, Atlases, Almanacs and the Columbia Encyclopedia, were available. In addition there was a set of Living Biographies of the Lives of Great Composers, Painters, Philosophers, Novelists, Poets, Religious Leaders and Scientists. Reference books were not allowed to be removed from the library. There were tables where research work would be done during hours.
Subscriptions to Consumer's Report and National Weekly magazines had been donated to the library and copies of other recent leading magazines and newspapers were also donated.
In July of 1960 the 1,000 th subscriber enrolled for membership in the Kiwanis Community Library. By this time the subscriptions were eagerly accepted, as the cost of maintaining the library was beginning to become a problem. The only source of income to the library was through subscriptions and fines on overdue books. Out of this income, heat, rent, and telephone bills had to be paid as well as supplies purchased and books, when there were sufficient funds.
To mark the second birthday of the library a brochure was mailed to some 6,000 residents of the community outlining the available facilities of the library and how it was conducted by volunteers. Since its inception a total of 33,427 volumes had been circulated. During March of 1960 there were 2,050 checkouts. Mr. Henry Scherouse, who visited the library in the summer of that year, was amazed at the wonderful job the nonprofessional volunteers were doing. All of these facts were stated in the brochure and an appeal was made at that time for new subscribers and for the old subscribers, whose subscriptions may have lapsed, to please renew. Funds, as well as help, were desperately needed.
The library continued to function under increasing difficulties. Constant requests for additional help were made in the local newspapers and most important of all a request for a professional librarian was made again and again. The librarian who had so unstintingly given of her time and effort had moved away and the volunteer staff was operating to the best of its ability without professional help. Many of the original volunteers who had worked so hard, for various reasons, had to relinquish their service. The staff was down to a comparatively small number to keep the library open and functioning for the scheduled number of hours per week it was open. The community was aware of the library and was using it. The need was being met. Students, particularly, were coming in for research and for books to help with their school assignments.
As the Kiwanis Community Library entered its third year of operation it became increasingly apparent that the community did indeed need a tax-supported library, with professional help and a firm budget, to adequately satisfy the needs of the people. The difficulties of operating the subscription library were increasing. The winter months in particular were devastating, as the heating was inadequate and tremendously expensive. After all, this was an old house, and even with alterations, inadequate for the purpose it was being used. The volunteers literally faced pneumonia working under such adverse conditions. The Board of Trustees of the Kiwanis Community Library did everything they could to keep the library running. They, with members of the Kiwanis Club, had given much of their time and effort to establish and maintain the library. The appeals for support had not met with the expected response.
In early spring of 1961, it was learned that the lease would not be renewed. The building was to be razed to make way for a parking lot. It became apparent that it was both physically and economically unfeasible for both the Kiwanis Club and the volunteer staff to continue operations past June 30, 1961.
In March of 1961 a committee for a public library was formed to once again campaign actively for a tax-supported library. The Kiwanis Club announced publicly they realized the limitations of the Kiwanis Community Library, or any library, which is forced to depend on such limited assets in money and manpower. The fairness of having such a burden placed on a small group of dedicated people was questioned. The Kiwanis Club had stepped into the breach only because it was unthinkable that a community such as Syosset should be without the facilities of a library, subscription or otherwise, and were proud of the results of the efforts made during the past three years.
On April 20 th , 1961 it was announced that one of the few tax-free libraries in the state, one operated by the local Kiwanis Club for the past three years, planned to close its doors permanently June 30 th .
The decision was made because (1) it was unable to renew the lease for the library building and (2) residents of Central School District 2 would have an opportunity in May to vote on a proposition to establish a tax-supported library.
So after these years of valiant effort, the Kiwanis Community Library came to an end. The books were packed in cartons for storage, a sale was held for such items as bookshelves, heaters, lights, table and chairs.
The Board of Trustees of the Kiwanis Community Library announced that in the event the community did support a Public Library, all the books belonging to the Kiwanis Community Library would be turned over to the new library. Subsequently on July 8 th at a formal ceremony the Kiwanis Club turned over the books of the Kiwanis Community Library to the newly elected Trustees of the Syosset Public Library. The ceremony took place at the library at 14 Roosevelt Street , Syosset. Participating in the ceremony were the trustees, members of the Friends of the Library, members of the Kiwanis Club, members of the Syosset Public Library Committee and the volunteers of the Kiwanis Community Library. Representatives from the Oyster Bay Town Clerk's Office, the School Board and civic associations were also present.
Much credit goes to the Kiwanis Club of Syosset, a service club, that really gave service, and to the volunteers who maintained the Kiwanis Community Library, which paved the way by pointing up the actual need for a Syosset Public Library.
This brief history was written by Mrs. Marjorie Wacker who herself was a volunteer in the library and who served as a Trustee of the Syosset Public Library from July 1962 to August 1966.
THE SYOSSET PUBLIC LIBRARY
1961 Thru Feb. 1970
The Syosset Public Library came into being as a result of approval by the voters in Central School District No. 2 on May 3, 1961. A provisional charter, good for five years, was granted to the library on June 23, 1961 by the Board of Regents on behalf of the Education Department of the State of New York . Prior to the establishment of this School District Public Library in May, 1961 the only library in Syosset was the Kiwanis Community Library-a subscription type library supported by a voluntary $5.00 annual fee per family and staffed by volunteer helpers. This service club sponsored library opened to the public July 14, 1958 and ceased to operate June 30, 1961.
On December 6, 1967 a bond issue ($ 925,000) for construction of a library was approved by district voters. Groundbreaking for the 23,500 sq. ft. building took place on March 1, 1969 and service from the new building began on February 23, 1970-on which day 3,464 books were circulated between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. Formal dedication of the new facility took place on May 3, 1970.
The Syosset Public Library, prior to being located at its present address (225 S. Oyster Bay Road), was located in rented quarters at 20 Cold Spring Road-a former Post Office-from November 1961 to December 1963 and at 29 Jackson Avenue-a former Hempstead Bank Branch-from December 1963 to February 1970. |
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Kiwanis Community Library
July 14, 1958 - June 30, 1961
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