Roslyn is a village of many wonderful attributes, one of which is, without a doubt, the Bryant Library and its personnel. One indication of the truth of this is the fact that people sometimes come to Bryant even though they live outside of the district. As a part-time member of the staff for the last ten years, I have been constantly surprised by the staff's ability to render such wonderful services and resources so capably and cheerfully under conditions that are rather appalling. A visit to almost any one of the neighboring libraries would demonstrate the differences between a structure that was built to be a library and one that is not. I've watched the constant juggling of a finite number of square feet - not really adequate to begin with - to try to accommodate the growing service and resource requirements of a modern library, the latest of which is to extend services to those who are currently not served by a library in their own communities.

In such circumstances one would expect the library board to bend over backward to make working conditions as pleasant as possible. The contrary seems to be true. Negotiation of a contract with the Library Association has been in process for two years. And now the board has unilaterally decided that their proposal is final and have made it available to the public as a done deal. It's interesting to note that recently several open positions have been filled by lower-salaried people. Is the board learning a lesson in bottom-line economics? Are long years of experience and loyalty to the Roslyn community now a negative rather than a positive? It makes one wonder.

Annabelle Bagdon