Manhasset Public Library Trustee Gloria Su is facing a challenge from Manhasset resident Ryan Kennedy for reelection to a five-year term.
The two candidates are set to face off on Tuesday, March 31.
Su is a scientific review officer for the National Institute of Health and has served on the board since 2016.
Kennedy is a lifelong Manhasset resident and a mail carrier for the United States Postal Service. Kennedy also studied business at Manhattan University and said he could help with “the financial and management aspects of being a trustee.”
“I do want to support the community that supports our family, so I have always volunteered in different committees,” Su said. “I believe in giving back.”
Su said she started volunteering mostly with Shelter Rock Elementary School, which her children attended. She also volunteered with the Manhasset Board of Education, before getting involved with the library.
“We loved the library as a family. My kids were always using the library,” she said. “We borrowed a lot of books back in those days.”
Kennedy said he is an avid user of the library’s resources.
“It’s been my library for my whole life. When I was a kid, I used to go to the third floor and get the historical documentaries,” said Kennedy, and as a child he was involved with many activities held there.
“More recently, I’ve been using the genealogy programs on the second floor,” he said. “They have a lot of resources for free.”
Su said she and her children also attended many library events, and she goes to the cultural events at the library as well, such as movie nights and book talks.
Su said she was so grateful for the role the library has played in her and her family’s lives.
“Serving as a library trustee seems like a perfect way to have a positive impact on the community that I love,” Su said.
She said she takes her role as trustee very seriously because “the duty of a trustee is obviously to protect the library’s resources.”
Su said one of her greatest accomplishments as trustee was a major renovation of the building, which converted many windows into office space for patrons.
“Our new space is even more patron-centered than before,” she said.
Su, who serves on the library’s policy and regulation committee, also said she was proud of how the library handled the COVID-19 pandemic. The library made book drop-off spots in the parking lot and saw many fewer patrons, she said.
“It took us a lot of effort to try and balance the regulation from the state and also continue to provide services to our patrons,” said Su.
Su said she is looking forward to erecting bollards in front of the library if she were to be reelected. The library is at an intersection where many cars turn, and Su said she has seen many close calls with cars almost crashing into the front of the building.
Kennedy said he decided to run for trustee because he wanted to become more involved in his community.
If electrect trustee, Kennedy said he would look into adding more study room since he said it can be difficult to find an open space in the library.
“I don’t know if there would be space to put more study rooms, but I would definitely like to look at how much that is actually being used and if it would be helpful to have even more,” he said.
“Otherwise, I don’t really have any room for improvements or changes because I feel like Manhasset Library has a lot of great resources,” said Kennedy.
