(Editor's Note: The following is a message from the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library's board of Trustees.)

"On Tuesday, May 15, Plainview-Old Bethpage voters will be asked to approve an increase in the library's tax appropriation for 2007-2008 of approximately 3 percent. For example, a house with a fair market value of $500,000 would have an increase of $12 per year.

With library use at an all-time high, your library continues to meet the needs of its community in many ways. Among the improvements that have been effected in the past year are:

• The 42-year-old public restrooms have been refurbished and are now ADA compliant.

• The demand for more and different programming has increased public use of the library facilities and your library now offers more movies, teen and children's programming.

• The number of requests from community groups to use the library meeting rooms has doubled.

• The library staff continues to anticipate patron needs by ordering more of the latest best sellers, increasing the large print collection, adding new magazines and shelving and providing more public access computer stations.

• Downloadable audiobooks and a wider selection of DVDs and books on CD are available in the media department.

• In an effort to serve residents who have difficulty in getting out of their homes, Library to Your Door is a new program that delivers books to the homebound free of charge.

• The museum pass program offers free passes to several area museums.

We hope you feel that the services offered merit the proposed increase in the tax levy.

Remember to vote on May 15."

Also, Stefanie Nelkens is running unopposed for the open seat on the library board. "The library represents the center of the community, not only geographically, but in how it serves the public. It celebrates our multiculturalism and is dedicated to "Putting the world within reach" for us and our children with its many wonderful offerings. I look forward to having the opportunity to enhance and expand this worthy goal," she said.