Two candidates seek a spot on RVC library board

In addition to the school budget vote and Board of Education election on May 16, local voters will decide on a spending plan for the Rockville Centre Public Library of almost $4 million. The 2023-24 budget is anticipated to increase taxes by $11 a year for the average homeowner, or 92 cents a month.

Voters will also elect a new library board member to a three-year term, succeeding Rebecca Nothel. The candidates include former board President Michael Ludwig and challenger Rachel Ferrick. Below, we present the candidates in their own words.

Rachel Ferrick

Our library has always been a destination for my kids and family. When they were younger, it was a place to meet other moms and families, and to this day it’s a wonderful way to fill afternoons with curiosity and creativity. My 10-year-old daughter has made a standing request that Thursday afternoons are for the library.

The library should be a destination for children and teens, a safe place for little ones to play, for teens to meet up with friends to get their homework done, and a place to join in community activities. We need our young people to be drawn to this space, while at the same time honoring our core of patrons who rely on the facility’s more traditional services.

I love that we’ve been able to bring services outside the building — for example, by bringing the library “TechMobile” to senior centers to help people with their hand-held technology. With weekly activities like yoga, meditation and game nights, as well as financial and health care workshops, it has created an environment more akin to a community center than just a brick-and-mortar place to check out a book. I’m always pleasantly surprised when I see how innovative the staff is, and how many fantastic offerings there are on the calendar.

In 20-plus years of working for some of the biggest media conglomerates in the world, I’ve seen firsthand how Americans are consuming information in a different way: News, educational and recreational materials are all being consumed differently than they were 20, 10, even just five years ago. To stay relevant, we need to adapt. We’ve made great strides already with services like Libby, but there’s more we can do to modernize and help more people access all the information and services the library offers.

There are thousands of books in the library that haven’t been checked out in over a decade. Let’s utilize that space more effectively. It needs upgrades, repairs and redesign, and those investments need to be made soon. As inflation continues to soar, it will only be more cost-prohibitive to delay them.

There’s more we need to do to raise awareness that the library isn’t just a place to check out a book. How many people know about those yoga and meditation classes? Do women know that in addition to having a play group at the library, they can join a free support group for new moms? We need to remind people that the answer to any question can almost always be found at the library, and the best way to get more people using its services is to make sure they know about them. I love our RVC Library Instagram page, and I think we need to continue to socialize the message of all the different services and programs we have to offer.

As a trustee, I will work to ensure that the library remains a vital part of the village. I will focus on helping it continually evolve and adapt to the ways in which multigenerational citizens want to consume information, and how they want to use the physical space. Finally, I’ll work with our friends and partners to remind village residents that the library has a world of offerings that go above and beyond the simple joy of borrowing a book.

Michael Ludwig

The Rockville Centre Public Library is a vital community resource. For those unfamiliar with it, it may elicit images of books and other printed material, stored and catalogued in a space where talking is discouraged.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, books and other materials are available there, and yes, in many areas of the library, quiet use of those materials is encouraged. But that’s just the beginning.

The library is an integral part of the community’s social infrastructure. It serves all members of the community without regard to their demographic, cultural, and personal characteristics. It is one of the last remaining public spaces in our society.

In addition to books and printed material, the library offers so much more — CDs, DVDs, audio books, Roku devices, GoPro cameras, Kindle readers, mobile hotspots, and a telescope. Its online resources include a wide array of research databases, including Consumer Reports; genealogy sites; Libby, for patrons to download magazines; and Hoopla, for access to popular music and movies.

Lastly, the library has passes for many local and New York City cultural institutions that patrons can use to visit them free of charge.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the RVC Public Library is its in-person programming, which serves the entire community, from toddlers to senior citizens, as well as the housebound.

I want to continue to serve the library, as I did when I served as a trustee from 2019 to 2022. In the last year of my tenure, I served as president of the board of trustees. During that time, the library faced many challenges, none more difficult than navigating the pandemic. It was forced to close for nearly four months, which was a great loss to the community, but it led the staff to reimagine how the library could best serve the community.

While in-person attendance wasn’t allowed, the staff quickly pivoted to offering programs online through Zoom. The library instituted contactless checkout, with materials placed in the trunk of a patron’s vehicle. Then we erected plastic barriers throughout the building when patrons were allowed back in.

We are now back to pre-pandemic conditions, and I want to continue the work I started during my previous tenure. For example, while the library is a sound structure, it is an aging one that requires regular maintenance. The trustees need to support the infrastructure of the facility to ensure patrons’ safety.

Remote programming was quite popular with some segments of our community, and I would like to see the library install technology that would enable it to offer hybrid programming — come in person if you’re able, or Zoom in via remote access. I’m confident these options would be most welcome.

Lastly, I would be remiss not to recognize the library’s executive, administrative, and professional staff. Our community is most fortunate to have a team of hardworking, dedicated individuals who make the library what it is: a beacon of hope and possibility for our community.