Galante Named New Head Of Queens Library System

Career librarian Thomas Galante was appointed by the Queens Public Library as their new director last week.
According to Board of Trustees president William Jefferson, Galante was appointed after an extensive search process. Of the five candidates evaluated, Galante, the former interim director, was chosen and appointed for a five-year term, effective July 1, 2005.
Galante’s Queens library track record includes executive jobs dating back to 1987. Early in his career, he served as CFO and business manager and was responsible for all of the library’s budget concerns and all financial operations.
In the 1990s, Galante was mostly responsible for technology improvements at the libraries. In the mid-90s he was named deputy library director and since 2003, interim director.
With a new person in the director’s chair comes a new plan. Galante said he wants to work on the library buildings’ capacities. He wants to enlarge them, redesign the space used and have even more room for the public.
September 11, 2001 had a direct effect on library availability and funding. Galante wants to improve both. He said he wants to “expand our hours, and get some of the money restored to have every library open six or seven days a week.”
Galante envisions what he calls a three-year project to install a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) into all 63 Queens public libraries. This device is like an “EZ Pass for libraries,” with a chip inside each library item, customers can walk out and have their items automatically checked out. This will also ensure more staff on the floor for customer needs.
Galante pointed out that Queens libraries have the highest circulation in the U.S., yet added, “We know we can be a lot better.” With his new plans and responsibilities, Galante said there are “a lot of great things on the horizon.”
Galante obtained his Master of Library Science from CUNY’s Queens College.
Chris Arnone is a freelance writer.