Just when it appeared Mineola was settled with its library after a complete overhaul and renovation project, the village board accepted the resignation of director Carol Ahrens last week. Ahrens will work until August 17 and then depart to become the new director of the Farmingdale Library.

Ahrens has been the director of the Mineola Memorial Library for three years and in that time, she has seen a dramatic change in the library. She started as the director before the renovation of the library began, during the project when the library was moved to a trailer adjacent to village hall and after the project was completed and the expanded library was opened to the public in December.

"It kills me that I'm leaving and everything is done," Ahrens said.

In June 1998, Ahrens came to the Mineola Library for an interview and she walked out, with less than an impressive impression of it. "There was no air conditioning. The lighting was off in half of the building because the lights had burned out and they didn't want to replace them. They knew they were having the renovation. The building was in horrible condition and I said there was no way I was going to take on that job," she recalled.

However, her father had passed away around that time and Ahrens figured she needed something to occupy her thoughts and so she accepted the challenge of being Mineola Library's director. "It took my mind off it. We never really had a big staff and I didn't have a secretary until the past two or three months so I was handling a lot of different jobs and I was really kept busy and I met such nice people in Mineola," she said. "The community is just so nice. It's just a very nice, small town atmosphere."

Although Ahrens may be sad to leave a community, which she has grown fond of, she is going to another library that is only six miles from her home and she is going to a position, which, she said, will pay her considerably more money. Yet, it was still a difficult decision to leave Mineola. "I've worked so hard to get the library to this level and there are many things I would have liked to have seen changed. But, these offers don't come along too often," she said, adding that, "I leave very confident that I leave the library in extremely good condition."

Although the new, renovated library has been received well on its aesthetics, which was not always the case, Ahrens recalled that before it was redone, the trailer was an improvement. However, the mayor, village and library boards, and residents made a commitment to a state-of-the-art library in Mineola and the renovation was completed. "I can look back with fondness on the hard work. Hard work doesn't kill you; it does make you stronger," she said.

The village will now request a civil service list, from which they can interview candidates for the position of library director. "The person coming in will have a good situation to come into in," Ahrens said.

Although Ahrens couldn't turn down the job in Farmingdale because of its proximity to her home and it will improve her financial situation, she has nothing but nice things to say about the residents of Mineola. "I just love the community. It's just such a nice group of people. It's not a transient community," she said.