Patrons to the Hicksville Public Library might soon find themselves a bit disoriented, as the library prepares to shift some of its collections around to make way for a new classroom.
The library is planning to transform the media center on the main floor, which currently houses the CDs and audiobooks, into a multipurpose room that will be used for classes and training sessions.
“As a library that’s also used as a community center, we needed a place to focus on training, ESL classes, professional development and online resources,” said Cultural Program Specialist Roseann Acosta. “This is a place where our librarians can go and train people and have training sessions and webinars.”
The new room will allow the library more programming opportunities. Currently the library only has one multipurpose room on the bottom floor. The room can be separated by a partition so two programs can run simultaneously; a situation that can be less than ideal when there’s a children and adult program planned for the same time.
The CDs, audio books and periodicals will be moved outside the Children’s Room to where the biographies currently are. In effect, the biographies and reference books will be moved to the bottom floor, and the DVDs will be moved up to the main level.
“The popularity of DVDs has increased over the years,” said Acosta. “People have to go downstairs to check out DVDs but once this change happens, everyone will be able to check out anything at circulation upstairs. It’ll provide more ease of access for people. It’s a little easier so people don’t have to run downstairs.”
In order to accommodate the changes, the library will be closed from Wednesday, April 9 through Friday, April 11 as everything is moved around and the media center is renovated into a classroom. The project is being funded by a $26,000 grant from Sen. Jack Martins’ office.
