Sunday hours coming to Waldinger Library

For the first time in its 81-year history, the Henry Waldinger Memorial Library will be open on Sundays. The new hours will begin in the fall. The library’s Board of Trustees approved the additional hours on Feb. 13.

The move comes as the village begins a push to win back the North Valley Stream library contract in two years. North Valley Stream residents now contract with the Elmont Memorial Library.

Village officials say in order to get North Valley Stream back, the Waldinger Library must equalize or better what Elmont offers.

Before Sunday service takes effect, the village and employee union Local 342 must renegotiate the contract, which sets the library’s hours.

Currently, the library is open 57½ hours per week. Officials have not yet decided whether the Sunday hours will add to that total, or if weekday hours would be shortened to make up the difference. Library Director Mamie Eng said she would prefer the first option, making Sunday hours an enhancement of the library’s existing operation. She said that maintaining evening hours during the week is essential for residents who want to use the library after work.

Mayor Ed Fare said that his goal is to lure North Valley Stream library patrons back to Valley Stream, a move that could net the village $350,000 to $400,000 a year, based on the current contract plus inflation. When the North Valley Stream library district was created about a decade ago, residents there chose Waldinger as its home library. But three years later, they switched to Elmont after it opened its new facility with a theater. The current contract with Elmont, which was approved in 2010, runs through 2015.

Fare and Eng said that gives them two years to come up with ways to try and win back the North Valley Stream patrons. “We would like to have them back,” Eng said. “We have to make sure we are providing the same or better services than Elmont.”