Library brings back historic RVC

The Friends of the Rockville Centre Library is selling a slice of vintage RVC to help out the library.

The Friends, a non-profit group that works to raise money for the library, is selling packages of note cards decorated with classic pictures of the village, selected from the library’s archives.

The images were selected by a group of librarians and given to Dave Beinlich, a photography teacher at South Side High School, for his classes to restore.

“We wanted to pick ones that we thought represented Rockville Centre, and of course we wanted one of the library,” said Alene Scoblete, an adult reference librarian and the library’s archivist. “And then we were looking for them not only to represent Rockville Centre, but which ones we thought were just the most fun and interesting to start with.”

The Friends worked with Minuteman Press in Rockville Centre to print the cards. People can purchase a set of 20 cards, five different scenes of four cards each, at the library for $15.

“All of the cards are on a board in the library when you walk in,” said Betti Ludwig, president of the Friends. “The back of each card acknowledges the teacher and the class, has our logo, and explains a bit about when the picture was taken.”

The money raised will go to many different things at the library that aren’t covered by tax dollars. The Friends funds the museum pass program, which allows library patrons to get free passes to many New York museums, and it will also go to the summer programs that are coming down the way.

The Friends is also going to be expanding as the year goes on. It will be holding a Mother’s Day Raffle with many different goods from local businesses. It is also looking for new members to join.

“We’re trying to raise enough money to be able to pay for [the museum passes] yearly,” Ludwig said. “A lot of the patrons don’t realize those are even available. We just reorganized and we’re gung-ho here trying to raise the money and keep everything local.”

The cards are available at the main circulation desk of the library. If they sell well, Scoblete said the Friends may do another batch next year with different photos.

“What we’re hoping for is that so many people in Rockville Centre will fall in love with these cards,” she said. “Even thought we do email and Facebook messaging and such, there are still plenty of opportunities to send notes.”