Read all about it! Library has new director

The East Rockaway Public Library appointed a new director at the village board’s monthly meeting on July 15, promoting a long-time employee and a lifelong resident to the position.

Mary Thorpe was named the head of the library after 23 years there. She started working as a part-time page, helping residents at the circulation desk, before earning a master’s in library science at Queens College and a certificate in library management and public administration from Post University.

She said she was proud to have spent her entire career at her hometown library. “I grew up in East Rockaway, I graduated from East Rockaway High School and I love this place,” she said. “I’ve watched it grow, and I grew with it. I love the people I work with and our patrons are great … it’s a great community to work with, and I’m very happy here.”

She said she has learned much over the years, and added that the most impactful moments came in the aftermath of 2012’s Hurricane Sandy. After the storm hit, many of the library’s staff, including Thorpe, pitched in to help residents where they could. The experience, she said, taught her important lessons about serving a community.

“The staff all pulled together, and no job was too dirty, too small or too big for us to handle,” she recalled.

She also complimented the facility’s previous heads, saying, “My predecessors as directors, Ellen Rockmuller and Betty Charvat, taught me quite a lot about running the library and the skills needed to have a great relationship with the staff and make the library the best place it can be.”

As director, Thorpe will oversee daily operations. She will help establish policies for lending and conduct, create new events and programs, and work with the library and village boards to gather and allocate resources.

Her goal, she said, is to move the facility forward, which will mean, among other things, keeping up to date with technology. Updates to the library’s electrical system, including the installation of new outlets featuring built-in USB chargers, are already planned.

“We’re pretty forward with our technology, but we want to stay current,” she said. “Technology is a big one for us … As the community grows and the community changes, we want to be able to adapt and to provide the community with things that meet their needs.”

Much of that progress will be guided by the library’s strategic plan, known as the East Rockaway Public Library 2020 Vision Plan, established in 2013. Some elements of the plan have already taken shape, including a new café in the library, called Beans and Books, which provides visitors with a comfortable spot to enjoy a book and a beverage or snack.

The plan calls for more changes over the next five years, including a new circulation desk and new reading rooms for children, adults and teens.

Thorpe also said she hopes to respond to residents’ needs with the library’s calendar of events and programs. The children’s summer reading program is now in full swing, and there are weekly games of mah-jongg and movie showings, lectures and presentations, visiting artists and speakers, and holiday-themed events. New to the library is the adult summer reading club, whose members read a book each week and enter weekly raffles.

The programs, new and old, are aimed at providing patrons with the best possible experience, Thorpe said. “Even as the library continues to grow, we want to make sure we continue to respond to the community’s needs,” she said. “They like us because of the small-town feel. They like us because we know everyone’s name, we know what books they like and we know what types of books they usually read. We want to make sure we maintain that.”

Comments about this story? bmurray@liherald.com, or share them online at www.liherald.com/eastrockaway.