One important insight behind the founding of this and other public libraries across the country is the idea that reading is transformational, that through reading we can not only learn new things but discover new worlds. In his award-winning book, Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes about this aspect of the library and what it meant to his own intellectual development. “The pursuit of knowing was freedom to me,” he writes, “the right to declare your own curiosities and follow them through all manner of books. I was made for the library, not the classroom.”

“The pursuit of know­ing was freedom to me, the right to declare your own curios­ities and follow them through all manner of books.”

Like Coates, many patrons rely on BPL as an alternative to school, a place where they are surrounded by books and other resources, and can follow their intuitions and interests at their own pace. For patrons who want to pursue knowledge alongside others, or need more direction, the Library offers an enormous range of programs that introduce participants to new ideas, practices, and ways of thinking. Many of these programs incorporate materials from the collection, or instructions or tips, so that participants can continue learning on their own if they choose. The goal is to tap into a person’s innate curiosity and inspire a passion for learning.

As one of the only organizations in New York that focuses on learners of all ages, BPL has developed distinct pedagogical approaches for different age groups, including children, teens, adults, and students of all ages with learning disabilities.¹

For instance, early learning programs (0–5 years old) are as much about modeling activities for care- givers as they are developing new skills and habits for young children. With an emphasis on social and emotional learning, in addition to intellectual learning, participants are encouraged to talk, play and sing. Babies are introduced to patterns and textures, and toddlers build with blocks and dowels. Programs for school-aged children (6–12) emphasize play and experimentation. In Book Adventure programs, they dress up in costumes, play with toys, and browse through stacks of topically appropriate books; and in Library Lab, they conduct hands-on science experiments with different substances and create machines out of cardboard, duct tape, circuits, and diodes.

Science Baby, a creative science series for 0–3 year olds

For teens, the goal is to empower participants by involving them in both the design and execution of programs. Drawing on their input and continued involvement, the Library hosts an annual teen writing contest that culminates in a reading and awards ceremony at Central Library. The winners and finalists also have their pieces published in the Teen Writing Journal distributed by BPL. For adults, the Library offers programs for learners with a wide range of abilities, including both basic computer literacy programs and more advanced digital media classes. At its adult learning centers, BPL offers intensive courses in basic reading and writing, preparation for the High School Equivalency exam, and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).

To accommodate different intelligences and learning styles, BPL has developed programs that go far beyond traditional literacy to incorporate sensory and physical elements, including building and disassembling, dissecting and performing. The Library’s Inclusive Services Department develops these kinds of programs for students with learning disabilities, and many of the same approaches have been adopted for other children as well as for teens and adults.

The Vision and Justice lecture series presented by Harvard professor Sarah Lewis

At the same time the Library is increasing its range of educational programs, incorporating new approaches and delving into new subjects, it continues to stress reading as fundamental. Through literally thousands of reading groups, lectures, author talks, a prominent literary prize, and citywide campaigns like Summer Reading, one of BPL’s most important contributions to the city is building a culture of reading and a community of readers.

Over the last two years, the Library has built on this tradition by developing an arts and culture series that is both inclusive and unapologetically intellectual. Recent events have included high profile performances of ancient Greek plays meant to spark important discussions about violence and mental health, a series of Harvard University lectures on the representations of race in the history of photography, and the Night of Philosophy and Ideas, which involved 60 lectures by prominent philosophers and thinkers and attracted over 7,000 attendees.

BPL’s approach to education and other aspects of its work, including social service support and legal assistance, civic engagement and more, rests on the assumption that people can continue on their journey of lifelong learning with a book, article, electronic learning resource or some other informational tool. In this way, the collection is at the heart of everything we do. But to create a collection and make it accessible and relevant to people’s needs and interests requires more than merely purchasing, shelving, and checking out books. It requires ongoing patron engagement and support for the individuals and groups that use our materials.

Connect­ing patrons to resources in the collection requires innov­ative curation, patron engage­ment, and partner­ships.

The Library’s collection is extremely diverse—it contains 4 million books and other items, as well as electronic databases and educational products, computers and digital media tools—and patrons engage with it in equally diverse ways.² A freelancer might take part in the Business & Career Center’s business counseling services, then check out sample business plans and participate in online training sessions on time management through Lynda.com. A teenager interested in photography and digital media might participate in the Library’s digital photography bootcamp, browse through hundreds of career profiles and interviews with professionals on Career Cruising, and then return to the stacks to get inspiration from the work of Weegee, Dorothea Lange, and Gordon Parks. Patrons utilize our collection to prepare for professional licensing exams, delve into their family histories, access information about government safety net programs, and pursue their interests for research, enrichment, and entertainment.

Whatever the goal, BPL’s public service staff, including more than 650 librarians, clerks, and technology resource specialists, are experts at connecting patrons to resources inside and outside the collection. This happens in person every day across the Library system, and increasingly online via the Library’s website and social media channels. After a short period in which search and recommendation engines looked like they might replace traditional readers advisory services at libraries across the country, the tide has started to turn the other way as patrons look for more personalization and context. Librarians generate book lists through the online catalog, meet with researchers through Book-A-Librarian, and provide personalized book recommendations through BookMatch.

SimplyE, a new app that lets patrons browse through and read over 200,000 ebooks

Partnerships are another important way of connecting people to resources in the collection. BPL creates and distributes curated book sets to classrooms across the borough in support of core curriculum goals in a variety of subjects, and at the end of every school year distributes reading lists to schools as part of its annual Summer Reading campaign. Archival materials from the Library’s extensive local history collection are made available to classrooms as a part of Brooklyn Connections, a project-based educational program that teaches fourth through 12th graders how to sort through and understand primary source materials.³ Last year, 1,700 students at 33 different schools participated, with final projects including a scale model of Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and handmade protest aprons and hats in commemoration of the civil rights boycott of Ebinger Bakery.

A young patron records herself reading a book as a part of the Daddy and Me program

The Library partners with hundreds of senior centers and assisted living facilities, homeless shelters, and jails to create offsite book collections that our librarians visit regularly and supplement with programs. At Riker’s Island, for instance, librarians supplement a book delivery service with a four-week literacy program in which incarcerated parents learn reading and storytelling tips, and are invited to record themselves reading their favorite children’s books. BPL works with local bookstores and publishers to stock important titles in over 100 languages, and to host foreign authors for panel discussions and talks. Finally, our librarians work with a variety of city agencies and nonprofit service providers, such as the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and the Immigrant Justice Corps, to provide immigrants with legal advice and a host of practical information about working and living in the U.S., including classes to prepare for the citizenship test and information about applying for or renewing green cards.

In an economy that increasingly requires postsecondary training and a baseline of technology skills, BPL has become a lifeline for tens of thousands of Brooklyn residents looking to make themselves more attractive job applicants and chart viable career paths. Every day people come into branches to search through job listings on the internet, and many work with staff to improve their resumes and cover letters and find information on educational and career training opportunities.

BPL connects patrons to resources and classes while help­ing them to ident­ify long-range goals.

To serve students who never finished formal schooling, including the more than 20 percent of Brooklyn adults who lack a high school degree, BPL offers a number of different intensive courses in basic reading, writing, and math. The Library enrolls nearly 400 students a year in pre-HSE (High School Equivalency) courses designed for students who read below the ninth-grade level. Students receive support from advisors who can help with problems outside the classroom if needed, referring them to housing agencies and social service providers. Beginning in early 2018, BPL will launch an associate’s degree program in partnership with Bard College, in which small cohorts of students will take college level liberal arts courses at Central Library. The program—which is completely free for students—will target people who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to attend a liberal arts college, much less a college of Bard’s caliber, and support them on their “pursuit of knowing” through many of the same courses offered at the school’s main Hudson Valley campus.

In the case of Bard at BPL and the Library’s intensive pre-HSE courses, students take classes as they would in a traditional school setting, but the fact that they’re coming to the Library to do it is important. The students in these courses benefit not only from the Library’s collections and staff, but also from its culture of curiosity and support for self-directed, differentiated learning.

Beyond intensive courses, the Library prepares young adults for careers by introducing them to mentors and role models. The Today’s Teens, Tomorrow’s Techies (T4) program trains up to 100 teens every year on customer service and computer software and puts them to work in branches across the borough. They help patrons on computers and assist staff in a variety of technology programs, including basic computer classes for seniors. Graduates of the program have gone on to enroll at universities including MIT, Duke, Wellesley, and Binghamton University, join organizations such as Girls Who Code and Technology Service Corps, and work for employers like the Brooklyn Museum, AOL, and Eyebeam.

Up to 100 T4 interns receive software and customer service training every year

Yet another way the Library connects people to economic opportunities is through business support services. Freelancers, independent contractors, sole proprietors, and aspiring entrepreneurs regularly visit the Library to work on their laptops, or use software and databases they can’t access elsewhere. Through a variety of partnerships with external organizations such as SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), they receive in-depth coaching from experienced business professionals as well as pro-bono legal and financial advice. They learn how to secure financing through not just regular banks but microlenders, how to repair their credit or reduce debt, how to create contracts with clients, and more.

The Library’s business plan competitions—PowerUP! and PowerUP! KREYOL—offer entrepreneurs classes and individual counseling in addition to much-needed visibility and financing. In stark contrast to the wider small business community, the majority of participants are women (70 percent) and / or minorities (75 percent), while only 40 percent are employed full time. Over the last decade, PowerUP! and PowerUP! KREYOL, which serves Brooklyn’s Haitian community, have helped to launch literally hundreds of new businesses.

In a borough famous for creative entrepreneurs and DIYers, the Library is the original coworking space. It was an incubator of businesses and career ambitions long before the term was adopted in the start-up community. And like many of the incubators in the tech and creative industries, BPL connects people with ambitions to the networks and mentors they need to realize them, a service that is particularly important among women, minorities, and others traditionally deprived of these opportunities.

Every one of BPL’s branch libraries, including Central Library, enable people to create community around shared interests, strengthen relationships with neighbors, and exchange views and opinions (even if it means disagreeing). When people from different walks of life come together to form even fleeting bonds in a library, surrounded by books and programs celebrating diverse viewpoints, they open up to new ideas and ways of seeing and thinking about the world, and not infrequently discover new role models and even mentors.

Libraries help create and sustain the human relation­ships that make our neighbor­hoods vibrant places to live.

People forge bonds through chance encounters in our libraries all the time, but BPL also offers a broad range of programs that allow them to connect through common interests and the shared experience of learning something new. For school-aged children, many branches offer creative writing and cartooning programs and, for older adults, memoir writing, painting, and dance classes. Unlike many senior centers and residential care facilities, BPL enables older adults to see and interact with children and new parents, and exposes them to new technologies and tools. Among the Library’s many technology offerings for older adults is Library Lanes, a competitive virtual bowling league using Xbox consoles.

Another way the Library builds community is through in-person, group discussions. People gather at the Library to engage in dialogue about neighborhood concerns and broader political, moral, and social issues.

Library Lanes, a competitive virtual bowling league for older adults

In partnership with the Prospect Park Alliance, BPL hosts regular campfire conversations in front of the Lefferts Historic House, in which residents of all ages discuss topics like aging and public land. In some cases, getting people involved in these discussions has meant stirring things up, even agitating participants. Several BPL branches have hosted performances of The Madness of Hercules and Antigone by a theater production company called Theater of War, which uses ancient Greek drama as a springboard to discuss complex contemporary issues like violence and mental illness. In the words of its founder, Bryan Doerries, the point is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Unlike many prominent cultural organizations, the Library is able to attract remarkably diverse audiences that include former gang members and highly educated professionals, public housing residents and homeowners, life-long Brooklynites and those who only recently moved here—which makes for incredibly rich conversation.

BPL enables people to give back to their communities by training and managing over 2,000 volunteers at any one time. Volunteers serve as homework helpers, program leaders, literacy coaches, and Friends Group members, and through their work at the Library they impart knowledge to tens of thousands of Brooklyn residents, foster trust, and inspire people to care about their communities.

Finally, BPL contributes to stronger, more resilient neighborhoods by creating and supporting services to combat a wide variety of social policy challenges. In addition to programs designed to enrich the social lives of older adults, BPL offers services for the homeless, including a program in East Flatbush that gives people experiencing homelessness an opportunity to discuss their situation with one another in a supportive environment while connecting them to shelters and mental health professionals, and working with them on preparing for a job. Through the TeleStory program, the Library brings story time to incarcerated New Yorkers and their families via a live video link between city jails and over a dozen public libraries across Brooklyn. At a time when over 50,000 New York City children are growing up with a parent in prison, this program reunites families in warm, welcoming environments, while enabling parents to inspire in their children an appreciation for reading.⁴

TeleStory connects families to their incarcerated loved ones through live video links at 12 branches

In a large, dense borough like Brooklyn, one of BPL’s most important functions is to provide accessible and inspiring spaces that are noncommercial and open to all. For many residents, the local library is both symbol and civic square. It’s part of what they take pride in when they take pride in their neighborhood.

As libraries are rebuilt and renovated, patrons will have quiet spaces to work alone As well As spaces to collaborate and play.

Over the last decade, the number of people taking part in Library-based educational programs has increased dramatically, as have the number of people using the Library’s electronic resources and WiFi. In fact, more people are using our services in more ways than ever before. They visit the Library to pick up new skills and reconnect with neighbors; to collaborate with peers and find peace and quiet; to use the computer and browse the shelves for reading material. This multiplicity of uses has stretched many neighborhood libraries, including Central Library, to their limit and made modernizing our physical spaces a high priority.

Due to BPL’s aging infrastructure and insufficient capital funding, some branch buildings not only struggle to accommodate modern uses but suffer from broken mechanical equipment and leaky roofs. Several years ago, BPL announced that it had over $300 million in unfunded repair needs and asked city government to help close the gap so that all Brooklyn residents have access to modern, fully-functional library buildings. Though many problems persist, the tide has undoubtedly started to turn. In fact, with support from Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City Council, Borough President Eric Adams, and the New York State Legislature, BPL is now entering one of the largest periods of rebuilding in its history.

Thirteen libraries with nearly $53 million in combined capital needs are slated to receive full-scale renovations over the next several years. Another three libraries are going to be completely rebuilt, while two new satellite facilities will be created in DUMBO and the BAM Cultural District, increasing the system’s total number of locations from 59 to 61. Counting recently completed projects like the Kensington Library and the renovated Park Slope Library, well over a third of BPL’s physical spaces will have been overhauled or rebuilt by 2025.

The planned Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center, designed by Marble Fairbanks Architects

These new libraries will not only be more accessible and functional—with working elevators and HVAC units—they will be able to accommodate more programs and uses. Patrons will have quiet spaces to work alone as well as spaces to collaborate and play. There will be spaces for the ever widening array of library-based educational programs and events, and spaces that accommodate new technologies and the ways people increasingly use them.

Older, so-called Lindsay boxes (which date from Mayor John Lindsay’s administration from 1966 to 1973) will be opened up to the street to allow in more natural light and create a more inviting space for people to linger or work. Even older, Carnegie-era buildings (which date from 1903 to 1923) will be renovated and modernized, with original exterior and interior details restored wherever possible.⁵ Larger overhauls and new buildings will expand public spaces and create entirely new amenities for their neighborhoods, such as expanded children’s spaces at the Brooklyn Heights Library and outdoor gardens at the Greenpoint Library.

The planned Business and Career Center at Central Library, designed by Toshiko Mori Architect

For the buildings that aren’t currently slated for major overhauls, BPL is concentrating on modernizing mechanical systems, refreshing interiors and making them accessible, updating indoor and outdoor signage, and transforming community rooms.

BPL is also preparing a full-scale renovation of Grand Army Plaza’s Central Library, one of the city’s finest examples of art moderne architecture, the largest circulating library in the five boroughs, and a civic hub with over 1.3 million visitors a year. Divided into four phases, the Central Library plan will restore the building’s historic lobby, modernize its mechanical infrastructure and amenities, and dramatically increase public space to better accommodate a diverse number of services and programs.

The Library has secured funding for phase one of the Central Library plan and will work with government and private partners over the next three years to secure the necessary funding for phases two through four.

One reason for being explicit about core principles in this plan, and for going into so much detail about our established approaches and methods, was to give our staff and service partners an opportunity to reflect on our work. This is a process that we will continue over the next few years during the plan’s implementation, and it will require us to adjust our approaches and occasionally scale back or even eliminate services when they aren’t in alignment with these principles, or prove ineffective.

In order to accommodate a growing number of services and programs, the Library must also find ways to increase internal capacity while maintaining or even improving service excellence. To do this, BPL will identify and test models for new services and streamline partnerships with outside organizations and stakeholders.

Drawing on clearly defined models when introducing new and specialized services can help us better coordinate efforts and ensure the highest potential impact. Whether in the form of toolkits, playbooks, or programs in a box, models can encompass a wide variety of different programs and services, including everything from literacy classes and digital media workshops to open houses and retail marketing practices. They should be prototyped and documented, and packaged with instructions and any necessary materials for replication.

Inviting staff Into the process of creating new programs empowers them to make Modifi­cations and improve­ments of their own.

One of the purposes of the Library’s BKLYN Incubator program, which awards innovation grants to staff members and their community partners, is to identify and test innovative new services that can be adopted in other neighborhoods. One incubator program that has already been piloted and replicated by other staff members is Cypress Hill’s Career Exploration Academy. This program consists of three librarian-led workshops that introduce participants to resources at the Library and three guest lectures by a variety of local professionals. When implementing the program, librarians receive a detailed curriculum and information on how to recruit guest speakers.

Other successful incubator programs that have, or will be, adopted at new locations include a small business program for childcare providers which recently won a prestigious Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant, a podcasting program, and a teen journalism program. Each of these has a clear set of parameters and instructions for customization and replication, and some include specialized equipment and materials.

The Youth and Family Services Department has taken a similar approach in dramatically expanding STEM programs for school-aged children. In partnership with the New York Hall of Science, the team developed a set of hands-on learning activities that can be easily administered in a library setting, sourced the necessary materials, and developed instructions and training sessions for the librarians who manage them. Library Lab STEM programs are now a major part of BPL’s educational repertoire.

This process of testing and replicating models not only makes it easier to incorporate new services, it enables staff members from across the organization to contribute innovations. By inviting staff into the process of creating new programs and making our source material easy to use and adapt, we empower them to make modifications and improvements of their own.

Another important way to create organizational capacity while maintaining a high level of excellence is through partnerships with outside organizations. In Fiscal Year 2017, BPL hosted a record 63,000 program sessions for more than 977,000 attendees. Many of these were designed and managed internally but a large number involved outside partners, including citywide institutions or agencies and local community-based organizations.

As the Library increases collaborative efforts with external stakeholders at the branch level, it will take steps to clarify and streamline the process of creating and managing partnerships. In addition to facilitating agreements, this will involve collecting and sharing information about high quality organizations and the outcomes of particular partner-supported services. It will also involve clarifying rules around community room use and updating community room designs to better accommodate the Library’s growing range of educational and cultural programs.

Top: Making Space, designed by SITU Studio, is being piloted at Flatbush Library; Bottom right: Teens take to the field as a part of the KNRC radio podcasting series at Canarsie Library; Bottom left: Teen readers at their first training for BookMatch Teen, a patron-powered readers’ advisory service.

In a borough as diverse as Brooklyn, different communities often require different things from their local library. Demographics and neighborhood amenities can vary dramatically from place to place. Some neighborhoods have a large population of aging residents and few resources aside from the library to keep their minds active. Others have a large number of immigrants with low levels of English language ability and not enough support services or English classes. In some neighborhoods teen programs are in high demand, while in others services for young families are the highest priority.

To become more responsive to the different needs of our neighborhoods, BPL will prioritize two things: data and community engagement.

Over the last year, BPL has been developing a series of data dashboards with key user metrics and demographic data for each branch and its community. Though user data is aggregated to protect the privacy of our patrons, staff members at all levels of the organization have access to current and historical data on what drives the activity in every branch, and can compare branches with similar usage patterns. In some locations, checkouts predominate, while in others patrons primarily use the internet or take part in public programs.

In a borough as diverse as Brooklyn, different commun­ities often require diff­erent things from their local library.

Demographic information is tied to each branch’s specific service area, and includes up-to-date Census data on age, educational attainment, English proficiency, languages spoken at home, and more. Branch staff can use this information to prioritize resources or plan new services, while drawing upon personal knowledge of patron needs and community issues. For example: branches with high circulation levels might prioritize customer service and programs that build on the collection; branches with relatively low circulation numbers might focus on educational and community-building programs; and branches with both low circulation numbers and visits might emphasize outreach and community partnerships.

BPL will balance the use of data with input from residents, community leaders, and organizational partners.

At present, branch staff regularly attend community board meetings and select tenant association meetings at New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) campuses, and build and manage a wide range of community partnerships, including 30 Friends Groups at neighborhood libraries across the borough. Over the next several years, the Library will continue to encourage staff to take community leadership roles, participate in important neighborhood meetings and events, and initiate open houses and facilitated discussions with residents. The Library will also prioritize outreach to neighborhood schools and community-based organizations, and, as mentioned, will clarify guidelines and expectations regarding partnerships.

Lastly, BPL will prioritize community engagement for all major capital projects over the next several years. During the design and development of new facilities in Brooklyn Heights, Greenpoint, and Sunset Park, the Library held facilitated discussions with a wide variety of neighborhood stakeholders. For the design of the soon to be built Sunset Park Library, for instance, BPL hosted two large-scale charrettes with residents and three meetings with smaller groups of stakeholders, and conducted in-person surveys throughout the neighborhood. Discussions were held in English, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese, and organizers made a concerted effort to facilitate discussions among immigrants, older adults, school children, and more.⁶

Though resources may be more limited in future projects, the Library will use the Sunset Park engagement process as a model for the future, one that sets the stage for meaningful discussions about the new or renovated facility and the Library’s broader role in the neighborhood.

Top: BPL’s Adult Learning team hosts a networking event with over 70 partner agencies; Top right: Staff at all levels of the organization are learning to use data to inform key service decisions; Bottom right: A community-curated DiscoTech (Discovering Technology) event at Stone Avenue Library; Planning a new library with Sunset Park residents, a process designed by Hester Street Collaborative.

During the strategic planning process, the lack of communication and collaboration across different Library locations and departments was raised as a big concern among participants. Our staff are eager to learn more about what their peers are doing, what initiatives are taking place in other communities, and what expectations or guidelines to consider when implementing a new program or moving to a new location.

To improve on these fronts and better support a culture of collaboration and innovation, BPL will prioritize three interrelated initiatives: a system of branch networks focused on distinct areas of service, a set of improved internal communication processes and tools, and expanded resources for professional development.

Through a new system of branch networks we can elevate challenges that may not be widely known or understood and test or prototype solutions before adopting them system wide.  

Over the next year, BPL will introduce five distinct networks of branches, each dedicated to a particular set of issues, including immigration services, young adult services, older adult services, collection management, and community outreach. Branches, including Central Library, will draw on demographic and performance data as well as staff knowledge of their communities to choose their own network affiliation.

While supplementing the geographic service model currently in place, these networks will be charged with developing and piloting new services. Members will meet regularly to prioritize and pursue new ideas. Once the networks have identified challenges and proposed specific next steps, representatives from relevant administrative departments will help members resolve issues and establish protocols.

Though every branch is required to join one of the five networks, the affiliations are fluid. Branches will have an opportunity to change networks and propose new ones. Frontline staff will have an opportunity to learn about the issues and progress relevant to each network through reports and system wide meetings.

Through a system of branch networks BPL will do more to support collab­orations among staff.

To support these efforts, BPL will prioritize internal communications, including clear messaging to staff about internal policies and procedures, guidelines for programs and services, and information sharing about key initiatives, projects, and events. The Library will look to revamp its intranet, while introducing new practices and digital tools to support collaborations across the system. The Library will also do more to find and share models of excellence. In this strategic plan, we are setting an example with the spotlight stories on pages 44–51, which feature staff members who have developed successful and replicable approaches to key library services, including outreach at homeless shelters, creative partnerships with community stakeholders, and safe havens in culturally diverse neighborhoods. Going forward, BPL will continue to highlight models of excellence in a staff newsletter and on its website and social media channels.

Finally, BPL will take steps to increase and better organize professional development opportunities for staff. Today employees take advantage of training sessions in a wide variety of areas, from workplace issues to government regulations to literacy and digital privacy. Specialized trainings are offered for branch supervisors, custodians, public safety officers, technology resource specialists, children’s librarians, and more. But the Library will do more to create individualized development plans and incorporate new learning and development approaches; and it will increase the number of offerings in several priority areas, including community outreach and engagement.

Top: Participants, judges, and audience members prepare for a pitch competition as a part of BKLYN Incubator; Bottom right: When choosing a network affiliation, staff will draw from demographic data tied to their service area; A training of Technology Resource Specialists led by NYC First in preparation for BPL’s first Lego Robotics Competition