(The following announcement was submitted by Thomas Sobczak, an independent advocate for library services in Carle Place. Residents of the Carle Place School District do not currently have a local public library.)

All Carle Place School District residents who do not currently have library services are eligible for a State Mandated Access Card (for Nassau County residents untaxed for local library services) from the East Meadow or Levittown libraries. This includes persons who have purchased library

services from neighboring libraries and cannot renew those memberships due to recent state law.

To get one:

1) Go to either the East Meadow or Levittown Library.

2) Ask at the information desk for the yellow State Mandated Access Card.

3) Fill out the form and show at least one form of identification (for

example, driver's license)

The card is good for one year from the month you applied for or renewed it. It will probably be renewable for 2002. After that, it's anybody's guess. To date, 387 State Mandated Access Cards have been issued to Carle Place School District users, 70 percent of whom are considered active users by the Nassau County Library System.

Not all libraries accept the State Mandated Library Access Card (the

Westbury Library is an example), so always call the library you want to use before you go.