Why were these folks desperate to get to the library?

The competition to tour each library in Nassau County was so fierce that members of the Katz family of North Bellmore did not want to waste time stopping for lunch, so they packed snacks.

In the end, however, they failed to defend their title, losing to the Illiterate Iguanas — three childhood friends who recently graduated from college.

The Nassau Library System held its second library tour, which will continue through Aug. 12. Thus far, 119 people have completed the tour of every library in the county, and more than 46,000 people have participated. Those numbers are expected to climb significantly as library officials continue to tally the results.

The Illiterate Iguanas reportedly departed shortly after their victory in the Nassau Library Tour 2023 and were unavailable for comment, as they are pursuing jobs and graduate school. Jessica Katz, however, said her family was disappointed for failing to successfully defend its 2019 library tour title, although the Katzes were the first North Bellmore Public Library patrons to finish the competition.

York Roberson, 82, of Uniondale, a retired Department of Homeland Security official, made it his personal mission to complete the tour for the second time this year.

“I have always been a fan of libraries,” Roberson said. “That’s a pattern in my life. You get into something, and it sticks with you.”

That’s exactly what Nassau Library System officials are hoping for — to make libraries an integral part of people’s lives. While the competitive spirit of the library tour made it fun, the real reason for the tour is to encourage people to discover a library they’ve never visited, and to shop in local communities.

The tour showcases the amazing benefits and interesting aspects of each local library. North Bellmore Public Library officials created a cutout bus to celebrate the tour; visitors wrote their names on a paper “leaf” to hang on a giant paper tree in the Roosevelt Public Library; and Mineola Public Library officials painted steps on a staircase to resemble the spine of various books.

“The whole purpose of the tour is to get people to see other libraries, and visit local restaurants and businesses,” Lisa Zuena, a representative of the Nassau Library System, said. “We’ve had people say they had no idea these libraries existed, and they’ve been to communities and shopped in areas they never would have.”

Mary Thorpe, director of the East Rockaway Public Library, said the branch reached 993 tour visitors on July 31.

“I think it’s so important for everybody to see what libraries have to offer, especially in times of financial crunches for people,” Thorpe said. “The library offers so much more than books. Every library is different and offers different things. One library has a great big music department, another has a large art department.”

At the West Hempstead Public Library, people are not just rushing in and out of the library to complete the tour — they’re looking around the library and shopping locally, Regina Mascia, the library’s director, said.

“It’s great, and it gets families into the libraries throughout the county,” Mascia said. “We have a list of local places they can go like Halls Pond Park or stop at Carvel for an ice cream. Everyone I spoke to has been really interested in the tour.”

Jessica Katz said the North Bellmore Pubic Library is her family’s second home, but the Katzes visit so many libraries throughout Nassau every year that one librarian referred to them as “the famous Katz family.”

While Jessica Katz admitted that her family — especially the children, Elias, 14, and Ash, 12 — is very competitive about the tour, she “starred” libraries on her tour map to return to for longer visits.

“The whole point is not to rush through it like we did,” Katz joked, “but to check out other towns in Nassau — not just the library, but the town.”

The Katz family finished the 2023 tour in two and a half days — that’s 58 library buildings in a weekend.

“I used MapQuest and created an Instagram page for our family,” Jessica Katz said. “We packed a whole bunch of snacks because my kids were like, ‘We’re not stopping for lunch!’ It was a little challenging, but we were up to the challenge.”

Roberson, who served in the U.S. Air Force from 1961-63, has visited libraries in Japan, Texas, Brooklyn, Manhattan and South Africa, where he worked in the U.S. Embassy for five years. He said he raised his two daughters so that they would appreciate visiting a library. He added that he visits a library just about every day to read The Wall Street Journal and search through 332 on the Dewey decimal classification for finance books.

“I think it’s a great institution,” Roberson said. “The library has to be your friend. I go just about every day to see if I can learn something and keep abreast of the world. A library is like social media — it gives you everything.”