Our Great Neck Library has been without a policy and bylaws committee for quite some time now. At the February board meeting, when President Mischa Schwartz was confronted with this omission, he explained that he would like to wait a while before appointing this committee; he would like to wait until ''tempers and emotions cool.''

While on the surface this would appear to be a wise decision, based on the past three-year history of volatile tempers and highly charged emotions on the part of the trustees, waiting for calmer times could mean waiting for a new board. And the library, and this community, cannot wait that long.

It is our belief that boards such as the library board and the school board are charged with the duty of developing policies. Staff then administers these policies. During many years of ''board watching,'' we have seen the board of education's policy-making committee consistently develop new policies and review and modify existing ones. Much time at school board meetings is devoted to discussion of such policies---discussion by board members, members of the administration and the staff, and members of the public. That's their job. That's what a board of trustees is supposed to do.

Why not at the library?

At last week's library board meeting several issues arose which, according to some trustees and some members of the public, must be dealt with via a policy-making committee. But one does not exist.

Election irregularity questions could not be satisfactorily answered. Basically, the policy manual is a bit unclear. This needs review by a policy committee. But one does not exist.

Having reviewed the current policy manual, Dr. Schwartz brought up two topics in question, access to the board attorney and library privileges for trustees and staff. Both are actually policy issues that should be dealt with by a policy and bylaws committee. But one does not exist.

It does appear that the library really does need a policy and bylaws committee. From what we gather, the library should have such a committee. But it doesn't.

It's time to remedy the situation.

We ask our library president and each and every library trustee to support the immediate appointment of a policy and bylaws committee. It's the right thing to do and the appointment is long overdue. Waiting can only make matters worse.