The Great Neck Library will soon add a new educational tool to its “library of things” collection.
The library system recently purchased three tablets from Toveedo, a Jewish children’s content creator. One of these tablets was displayed at the June 17 board of trustees meeting.
The devices, which are the size of a standard iPad or Android tablet, are pre-loaded with educational videos and books. Adam Hinz, the system coordinator of programming for Great Neck Libraries, said the content is curated by Toveedo and reliably safe for kids.
“It’s all content that is completely locked down,” he said. “They won’t have access to any other things.”
The tablets are expected to be put into circulation at the library’s main Bayview Avenue location by the end of the week. Like other “library of things” items, they will have to be reserved online by a library member and can be checked out for up to 10 days at a time.
Board of trustees President Aliza Reicher said a community member suggested purchasing the Toveedo tablets, and the products fit in well with the library’s existing Jewish Traditional Collection.
In other news, the library is getting plenty of mileage out of a 3D-printed model of Gatsby’s estate that was made in the main building’s STEM lab. The model was made as part of Great Neck Library’s celebration of the centennial of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” over the month of April.
Kathryn Baumgartner, the Great Neck Library assistant director, reported at the board of trustees meeting that the model was displayed at an event featuring the Irish consulate and the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society on June 6. The Irish consulate thanked the library for loaning the model in a post on X.
The Fitzgerald Society will again be using the model estate at an event on June 24, during their international conference.
Elsewhere in the meeting, Baumgartner shared plans to rearrange some of the bookshelves at the Lakeville Branch to make more room for kids to sit.
She explained that, in the past, people at that location would stop in to pick up their books and leave. Because of an increase in programming at Lakeville, more kids are now staying and hanging out in the library.
Right now, the plan is to remove a shelving unit in the kids’ section to carve out more space for seating and programming. Baumgartner added that the changes would be made with safety in mind, designing the space so that librarians have a clear view of the entire area.
There is no timeline attached to the project, which is currently in its planning stages.
