As political debates have veered toward the xenophobic and symbols of intolerance and hate have started to appear even in Brooklyn, some librarians have found ways to emphasize BPL’s core values of inclusion and diversity.
In early 2017, the Bay Ridge Library began putting out a sign every day that said, “You are welcome here. You are loved.” And to get patrons thinking more broadly about immigration issues, children’s librarian Katya Shapiro organized a series of readings about refugees and migrants in different parts of the world and supplemented these with creative posters and book displays. Over the last year, library regulars, including a few little kids, have taken on the message of inclusivity themselves. “We let them take over the chalkboard,” says Rita Meade, the library information supervisor. “They started writing things like ‘Everyone is welcome here’ and ‘We’re happy to see you.’”
These are simple gestures, but when people feel unwelcome or uncomfortable in their own city for being who they are, simple gestures matter.
Libraries have long been safe havens where people are free from harm or ridicule. They are also safe havens in the sense that in the library, people are empowered to explore, ask questions, and express themselves, no matter who they are or where they come from, what they know or don’t know. BPL does this through educational programs that draw on a wide variety of prompts and materials to engage different kinds of learners, including those with intellectual, emotional, and physical disabilities, and through cultural events, lectures, discussion groups, and performances that address important social and political issues. Books are no longer the only means of engagement, but they’re still essential. At the suggestion of a local mom, the Bay Ridge library started stocking and displaying children’s books about Islam, not just for the Arab and Pakistani immigrant families in the neighborhood but for other children and parents curious about the hijab and other Muslim customs.
“We let them take over the chalkboard… They started writing things like ‘Everyone is welcome here’ and ‘We’re happy to see you.’”
To create an environment in which everyone feels not only welcome but like they have a stake in their community, staff have to have a strong sense of residents’ interests, challenges, and needs. There might be teens struggling with bullying at school, parents worried about standardized testing, newly arrived immigrants working toward their high school equivalency, seniors trying to stay mentally and physically active, and more. In each of these cases, one component of the job is providing access to information and one component is ensuring a safe, inspiring environment.
Every year, the Library works with thousands of volunteers and organizational partners to create a wide variety of classes, events, and performances. These programs mobilize existing Library resources to answer specific needs in our communities, and leverage the expertise and assets of outside partners to do it. A good example is Girls Report Now!, a bootcamp for teenage girls interested in journalism.
“One student wrote an article about the L train shutting down and interviewed a bunch of small business owners and shopkeepers in Williamsburg.”
After putting out a call for potential partners, Erik Bobilin, the manager of the Leonard branch in Williamsburg, found an experienced reporter from Fusion News who was interested in teaching and mentoring kids in the neighborhood. Together they designed and led a series of workshops over three months that introduced teenage girls to key reporting methods and supported them as they researched and composed their own articles.
“Girls face so many obstacles in their teenage years,” says Bobilin. “We wanted to empower these teens to go into their community and really dig in on an issue. Reporting was a reason for them to do that.”
One student wrote an article about the L train shutting down and interviewed a bunch of small business owners and shopkeepers in Williamsburg; another wrote about why the SAT should be abolished and interviewed her classmates; yet another wrote about a genre of Minecraft videos and interviewed YouTube personalities with tens of thousands of followers. “They were required to break out of their comfort zones,” Bobilin says. “Teenagers aren’t asked to hold their own in these sorts of conversations enough. It was definitely intimidating for them.”
Girls Report Now! was a participant in the BKLYN Incubator, a program that helps library staff learn to assess needs and opportunities in their neighborhoods, build partnerships with outside groups, and design successful new programs and services. BKLYN Incubator grants, worth up to $15,000 each, are awarded on a competitive basis to especially promising new projects. Over the first two years of operation, successful proposals have included gardening programs for children, coding courses for teens, training in early learning pedagogy for childcare providers, and theatrical performances based on the writings of adult literacy participants.
When people want answers to simple questions, a search engine is often the most convenient tool. But if they want help formulating the question in the first place—or are in search of something new and surprising—librarians are often a better choice.
Through a program called BookMatch, over 60 BPL librarians steer patrons toward an impossibly broad range of titles, from test prep materials and self-help books, to literary nonfiction and Manga comics. They field requests through an online form at bklynlibrary.org as well as in person at a wide variety of special events such as the Gay Pride Parade, Comic Con, the Brooklyn Book Festival, and Smorgasburg.
“This service doesn’t rely on taste algorithms,” says Amy Mikel, a school outreach coordinator who helps organize the program. “It’s a personal relationship.”
Conducting BookMatch at special events gives librarians an opportunity to advertise the service while making inroads in particular reading communities. But the core of the program is based online, and those exchanges, says Mikel, can be surprisingly rich and substantive.
The online format gives patrons a little more time to think about and even research what they’re looking for, and gives the BookMatch team an opportunity to find the right person to respond. Patrons interested in science fiction novels or World War II history, for example, can be paired with librarians who have experience or interests in those fields. BookMatch librarians aren’t just cataloging experts—they’re passionate readers themselves. They include comic book nerds, history buffs, amateur chefs, gamers, and poets.
“This service doesn’t rely on taste algorithms. It’s a personal relationship.”
At a time when our digital lives are increasingly filtered and curated by algorithms, many people are just looking to have a good conversation about books with someone they trust. “They want to connect on a personal level,” says Mikel, “and hear about your experience with a particular book or subject.” For this reason, being a good BookMatch librarian isn’t so much about providing the correct answers as making a connection. “You listen to what they’re telling you and draw from your own interests to set up an explanation about your five books.”
This focus on the personal is at the heart of BookMatch Teen, a trial version of BookMatch run by and for teenagers. Like many of the Library’s other teen programs, participants are involved in all stages of the service, including not just delivery but planning, marketing, and outreach. The program has a career development component that introduces participants to professionals in publishing, libraries, and writing, but the basic idea is the same: to create a reader advisory platform that enables people—in this case, teens—to share and inspire others through their passion of reading.
Making sure that the most vulnerable in our communities have an opportunity to fully participate in our economy and society is an important value of the Library. It informs a range of specialized services for the marginalized and disadvantaged, including those experiencing homelessness or suffering from mental illness, and inspires the proactive approach many staff members take when delivering these and other services to patrons.
To better serve the needs of those staying in the Rose McCarthy Family Residence in East New York, for example, children’s librarian Nicole Bryan started throwing evening pajama parties in the facility’s common room. The idea came to her after meeting with Rose McCarthy staff to discuss how the New Lots branch could better connect with residents. Pajama parties, she thought, were just the sort of experience children without stable housing often miss out on.
“It was an amazing turnout,” she says of the first event. “They all came in their PJs: the children, the parents, even the staff. I bought myself a pair of tiger pajamas.”
What started out as occasional outreach events soon became a monthly series at which the children read stories and completed fun activities, including sing-a-longs and holiday crafts. Bryan set up a lending library of 200 items at the shelter and gave the children books they could keep. She attended monthly house meetings to tell families about the services available for free at the library and worked with staff to include information about BPL in the intake packets for new families.
“It was an amazing turnout… They all came in their PJs: the children, the parents, even the staff. I bought myself a pair of tiger pajamas.”
Shelter life is transitory, yet Bryan was able to build enduring relationships with residents, many of whom settled in the neighborhood and became frequent visitors to the New Lots branch. “Because we went to the shelter, the kids would say, ‘I want to go see Miss Nicole at the library!’ Many of them became regular visitors to Saturday Storytime and to my arts and crafts workshops.”
With the help of a licensed social worker, BPL meets regularly with individuals who are suffering from mental illness or addiction, or who are chronically homeless and use our libraries as a refuge. And the key to serving these and other vulnerable patrons well, according to outreach director Nick Higgins, is to develop trusting relationships. “Their need might not be the one you envision for them,” Higgins says. “You have to be thoughtful and patient. Before accepting a referral to supportive housing or mental health care, some may require small gestures of compassion and support like an invitation to a program, or extra time on the computer, or a simple ‘hello’ every time they come into the library.”
.png){kind=small}