It was rather disturbing to read Elizabeth Allen’s letter in the Aug. 5 issue. I do not know Ms. Allen personally, but have often admired her letters to the local newspapers and was interested to find out exactly what happened when she, as a Great Neck Library patron, reserved a video through the Port Washington Library.
Since I was not a party to whatever occurred personally, I can only comment that in my many years as a patron of the Great Neck Library, in which I normally visit the main library at least once a week and sometimes two or three times, I have unfailingly been treated with the greatest courtesy, friendliness and professionalism by staff members. My visits to the library almost always involve some transaction with the circulation desk and I have always found the personnel to be extremely helpful.
It has always been my understanding that if I wished to borrow materials from other libraries in the Nassau System, I had to make the request through the Great Neck Library. Since the library’s Web site was developed, it has been very quick and easy to make online reservations for materials Great Neck does not own, and of course, these interlibrary reservations can also be easily made in person or on the phone.
In an effort to understand what may have happened, I called the Nassau County Library System offices and asked about their policies. It seems a bit complicated, since the Great Neck Library is a member of the system, but (along with the Syosset Library) is not a member of the shared system for automated circulation, and this may well be the cause of the confusion and difficulty that occurred with Ms. Allen.
Like Ms. Allen, I have always found the staff at the Port Washington Library to be very helpful and courteous.
According to the person I spoke with at the Nassau County Library System office, the staff at Port Washington would have had no problem reserving one of their items for a patron of libraries other than Great Neck and Syosset, since they are all on the same system. But reserving something for a Great Neck Library patron may have caused technical problems for the Great Neck staff that the staff member in Port Washington, and Ms. Allen, were not aware of.
I am certain that neither Ms. Allen nor the staff member in Port Washington intended to cause problems for anyone at the Great Neck Library, and if this is what happened, it is unfortunate. Without having any further details, I can only conclude that it is best for Great Neck Library patrons, at this time, to continue reserving materials from other Nassau libraries from our home library.
With rapid changes in the computerized and everyday world, however, it is quite possible that this situation may change in the near future.
Diane Coffield
Great Neck
