Gaughran bids farewell to library board

The library has been a major part of Steve Gaughran’s life, even before he moved to Seaford in 1960.

Gaughran, 81, recently wrapped up a 17-year tenure on the Seaford Public Library board of trustees. Because of health reasons, he stepped down on Dec. 31, six months before his term was set to expire. Getting out at night, especially in the winter, had just become to difficult, he said.

“It’s been an important part of my life these years and I’ve really enjoyed it,” he said, adding that he wished circumstances were different.

Growing up in Queens, Gaughran was an avid reader and regularly visited his local library. Upon moving to Seaford, where he and his wife, Claire, would raise their six children, he found his new second home. Back then, the library wasn’t located on Jackson Avenue, but was on the second floor of a building near the Seaford Cinemas.

Gaughran began working for IBM in 1959 and also taught computer courses at both Hoftsra University and Nassau Community College. In the 1990s, the long-time library patron was tapped for his expertise. Seaford, like most libraries, was shifting its focus toward technology so Gaughran gave advice on what kind of computers the library should buy, and he also helped install and maintain them.

When he was a youngster, if he needed to look something up, he would travel to his local library and open a book. Now, with so much information online, Gaughran explained that a library needs to have computers available like it once needed to provide encyclopedias.

“It’s part of the world today and a library is a distributor of knowledge,” he said about the importance of providing technological resources for the community, from hardware at the library to databases that can be accessed at home. “You need to make every effort to give the people what they need.”

Gaughran said that during his tenure on the library board, they have increased the amount of databases available to the public. Other accomplishments, he said, included the renovation of the outside of the library and the hiring current library Director Frank McKenna.

The biggest role of the library board, Gaughran explained, is setting the budget. He said that since the tax cap was enacted several years ago, every budget has been compliant. “We’ve been very successful in keeping it as low as we can,” he said of the budget. “That’s not always easy.”

Every month, Gaughran, the board’s vice president for 11 years, would prepare charts for his fellow trustees reviewing the library’s spending.

Gaughran is an Air Force veteran and is active with St. William the Abbot Church. His children attended Catholic school there, as well as area parochial high schools. It was when he retired from teaching, and suddenly had his evenings free, that he was able to add library trustee to his resumé.

Peter Ruffner, president of the library board, said that Gaughran will be missed. “The entire Seaford hamlet owes Steve an armful of gratitude for the way this quiet leader has made the library, over the past 17 years, the institution that it is,” Ruffner wrote in the library’s January newsletter.

Gaughran’s trustee seat will be filled by Margaret Grub, who is active with the Friends of the Seaford Library and has regularly attended the board meetings as a member of the public. “She’s very familiar with the library,” Gaughran said. “I’m sure she’ll do very well.”