Retrofitting the Henry Waldinger Memorial Library

Having worked at the Henry Waldinger Memorial Library since 1979, Mamie Eng has seen it change over the years. “When I started, they were just on the edge of computers, so they were just beginning databases,” she recalled. Now, she said, the entire set of reference books have been replaced by online databases.

Eng, 63, the library’s director, is always looking for ways to modernize the building. “Each year we have a small project,” she said.

This year she plans to create a room behind the vestibule for the 3D printer, the MakerBot Replicator printer, and all of its supplies. To build the room, the village board accepted a $12,347 Library Construction Grant from the New York State Department of Education at its June 19 board of trustees meeting. The bids for the construction were awarded to Valley Stream-based T.P. Glass and Mirror Inc. and Bay Shore-based A.R. Kropp Co. & Sons.

Eng found out about the grant from an Education Department listserv, an application that distributes messages to a large audience. The Nassau County Library System helped her complete the application to show how the new room would benefit residents. “It is a competitive grant in the sense that there’s not enough money for all the libraries, so you try to make the best presentation you can,” Eng said, adding that she has to send the Education Department before-and-after pictures when the work is finished.

This isn’t the first time Eng has received state grants to modernize the library. She has accepted several grants since 2007, when she realized that there was no room for people to plug in their computers. Since then, grants have helped fund new areas in which patrons can power their computers and study — a difficult task since the library has limited space for construction.

“It would have been great if we could have had an extension, you know,” Eng said.

“ ... But the footprint of the building is what it is. There’s not much space to expand, and physically we can’t go up the building. It’s built on a place where we have kind of a low water table, so it would not really support.”

Instead, Eng removed shelving units the once held reference books and magazines. She said that people do not tend to use those items because the information is available online. “It was passive space,” she said. “Now it’s going to be used more actively.”

Residents, such as Usman Naseer, spend hours in the new quiet study area next to the staircase. “I come here at about 1 or 2 p.m., and leave when it closes at night,” said Naseer, who takes practice medical board exams.

Other past projects include the transformation of the front vestibule into a “green space” for a place for people to work at desktop computers and eat lunch and an outdoor recreation area. According to village Mayor Ed Fare, these upgrades help the library remain competitive. “We need to keep up with the times,” Fare said in a statement. “And keep our library at the forefront of desired destinations.”