On August 12, Literary Thursdays welcomed artist and author Christina Conklin to share her new book, The Atlas of Disappearing Places: Our Coasts and Oceans in the Climate Crisis. Conklin, a textile artist, is interested in the intersection of natural systems with belief systems. She approaches her art by asking herself what nature is already making. She began working on the book in 2016, with the goal of helping people to see the ocean as the central circulatory system of our planet and to see ourselves as part of it.
The book covers changing chemistry, strengthening storms, warming waters, and rising seas – in that order, to reflect the order in which these changes are occurring in nature. Conklin explores the ocean as body, with health/illness parallels, and presents future histories – imagined and researched ideas of what might happen in each of the twenty locations in the book in the future. She writes from 2050; for example, she predicts the outcome of a future super storm in New York City.
In her talk, Conklin introduced the idea of transilience, a geology term referring to an abrupt change in layers of rock. Unlike resilience, which she describes as a bouncing back, Conklin says we need abrupt jumps forward in order to address the climate crisis. Such jumps, she argued, are necessary more than incremental changes.
She created all of the book’s maps on dried seaweed that she collects near her home in California’s Half Moon Bay. She sees a certain poetry in the fact that the seaweed liquefies if wet. Her maps depict, among other places and things, ice sheets, coastal cities, ocean warming, global plastic waste pollution, the Pacific garbage patch, and the area in Vietnam where most of that country’s food supply is grown, a place that she says saltwater will inundate in the future. We must learn, she said, to relocate people in a safe and equitable way.
When discussing her global plastic waste pollution map, Conklin expressed the concern that fossil fuel industries are relying on us to depend on plastics more as our use of fossil fuels decreases.
When sharing a map of San Francisco, she explained that many cities have filled in their shorelines. Between the 1950s and 1980s, San Francisco filled in its bay by one-third. She described the problem that many toxic chemicals lay underneath the land that was filled in and will be exposed by rising sea levels.
Looking at a map of London, Conklin expressed that the flooding that will come from the Thames River presents existential questions to which she thinks the solution is moving to higher ground, while this is difficult to come to terms with. She encourages visiting climatecentral.org to use their surging seas tool to find out about flood assessments in your area.
In New York City, not much changed in terms of preparations for protecting vulnerable populations as a result of Hurricane Sandy, she says. In the future, a storm of this size will become more common. We need to have hard conversations now or face disasters, Conklin warned.
Conklin’s ultimate message was one of urgency, as expressed in the title of her atlas. Asked the most interesting lesson she learned while putting the book together, she responded that it was how many people are devoting all of their time to the climate crisis. She indicated that these stories of hope encouraged her because cultures shift when enough people take a step in understanding an issue. We’re in a dead heat with climate change, she expressed, but she has faith we will win.
The Atlas of Disappearing Place: Our Coasts and Oceans in the Climate Crisis is available from Queens Public Library. Read an excerpt here.
New Program Aims to Introduce Literacy and the Joy of Learning to Children Ages 0 to 5
With Their Very Own Special Edition QPL Cards
Elmhurst, N.Y. (August 5, 2021) – NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst CEO Helen Arteaga-Landaverde and Queens Public Library President (QPL) and CEO Dennis M. Walcott today launched “QPL Baby Card,” a joint collaboration to deliver literacy and a love of learning as early on in a child’s life as possible.
At the event, CEO Arteaga-Landaverde and President Walcott presented three babies –and their parents –who were recently born at Elmhurst Hospital special edition QPL cards in their own names. In addition to the baby cards, created as part of the Library’s ongoing 125th anniversary celebration, QPL staff have created a website featuring literacy, health and parenting programs, such as a “Baby Basics” workshop, and for children ages 0 to 5, such as Mother Goose storytimes and “Kick-Off to Kindergarten.” Applications for the baby cards, a sample card, a map of all QPL locations, and a QPL bib and bookmark will be included for a limited time in diaper bags the hospital gives to parents when newborns and their parents leave the hospital.
“The goal of ‘QPL Baby Card’ is to introduce literacy and a love of learning at birth, and to engage parents and their babies in this process,” said President Walcott. “The program also reinforces and deepens the Library’s relationship with Elmhurst Hospital — once the epicenter of the pandemic in New York City and now a symbol of hope and resilience. I am grateful to CEO Arteaga-Landaverde and her team for their ongoing collaboration with the Library, and supporting our mission to help people be successful in their lives.”
“NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst is thrilled to collaborate with the Queens Public Library to give our new moms and their babies access to library cards and encourage early literacy,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst CEO Helen Arteaga-Landaverde, MPH. “Many of our patients are immigrants or first-generation Americans, so getting easy access to books and other educational materials will greatly benefit them and put their children firmly on the path to academic achievement and success. We greatly appreciate this partnership and look forward to continuing to work with QPL to provide programs for our community, in addition to the exceptional care provided to families at our hospital.”
Also on Thursday, the Library will start issuing the special edition cards to all children ages 0 to 5 after their parents or caregivers fill out a special application at any available Library location. The only information that is required to get a card are the child’s name and a New York State address.
Contact:
NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst: Atiya Butler at butlerat@nychhc.org or (917) 319-5167 or
Queens Public Library: Elisabeth de Bourbon at edebourbon@queenslibrary.org or (917) 499-0867
About NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst
NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst is a major provider of hospital and ambulatory care services in the borough of Queens. The 545-bed hospital is a Level 1 Trauma Center, an Emergency Heart Care Station, and a 911-Receiving Hospital. It is a premiere health care organization for key specialties, including surgery, cardiology, women’s health, pediatrics, rehabilitation medicine, urgent care, renal services, and mental health services. Last year, the hospital’s robust primary and specialty care practices handled nearly 700,000 ambulatory care visits and its emergency medicine teams responded to more than 130,000 emergency room encounters.
About Queens Public Library
Queens Public Library is one of the largest and busiest public library systems in the United States, dedicated to serving the most ethnically and culturally diverse area in the country. For 125 years, QPL has offered free access to education, information and opportunity for all. An independent, non-profit institution, the Library has a collection of more than 5 million books and other materials in multiple languages, technology and digital resources, and more than 80,000 educational, cultural, and civic programs annually. QPL consists of 66 locations across the borough, including branch libraries, a Central Library, seven adult learning centers, a technology center, and two teen centers, and attracted more than 11 million visitors in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more about Queens Public Library at www.queenslibrary.org.
Queens Public Library, City and Elected Officials Reveal Design for the New Rego Park Library
Rego Park, NY (July 28, 2021)—Queens Public Library President and CEO Dennis M. Walcott was joined today by NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) Commissioner Jamie Torres-Springer, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, State Senators Toby Ann Stavisky and Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., New York City Council Member Karen Koslowitz and community leaders to unveil the design for the new Rego Park Library.
DDC presented plans for the new, state-of-the-art building at 91-41 63rd Drive, which will replace the current 7,500-square-foot one-story facility that opened in 1975. The new 18,000-square-foot two-story library, with estimated design and construction costs budgeted at $33.2 million, will more than double the size of the original library and will feature separate reading rooms for children and teens, as well as additional space for computer access and for educational programs and community activities.
Designed by Weiss/Manfredi Architects, the new library will offer greater access to free resources, technology and opportunity to the growing Rego Park community and beyond. It will incorporate innovative design, visual comfort including glare control, balanced acoustic design, natural light, ergonomics, weather and water tightness, ease of maintenance and use, and energy efficiency.
The Rego Park branch is among the busiest in the borough, serving – under regular circumstances – nearly 200,000 people a year and lending about 190,000 items each year. It reopened for to-go service last August, after QPL temporarily closed the Library’s physical locations in March 2020 to help stop the spread of COVID-19. The branch expanded service for computer use, browsing and in-person reference on May 24. Since then, Rego Park has been among the top 10 QPL branches for check-outs, number of visitors and computer sessions.
The project, which is being managed by DDC, is anticipated to begin construction in winter 2022 with an estimated completion date of summer 2025.
“The Department of Design and Construction’s outstanding design reflects the progress we have made towards providing this growing community a much larger, modern library with spaces that will uplift and inspire our customers as they access a world of free information, resources, services and opportunity,” said QPL President and CEO Dennis M. Walcott. “I want to extend my deepest thanks to Council Member Karen Koslowitz for her decades-long advocacy and financial support for a new library, and to Mayor Bill de Blasio, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, and his predecessor Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz for securing the funds needed to build it.”
“DDC’s design for the new Rego Park Library greatly expands the available space and takes into account environmental sustainability and user comfort to create a friendly and enriching environment for both adults and younger people,” said NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) Commissioner Jamie Torres-Springer. “Libraries are centers of learning as well as valuable community spaces and this project achieves both of those goals.”
"The residents of Rego Park have been waiting for the construction of a new library for a very long time, but thankfully we're here today to see this next step forward," said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Jr. "The designs revealed today show the new Rego Park library will be a first-class facility that will meet and exceed the educational, cultural and occupational demands of this vibrant community. Libraries are community hubs that are centers of learning, literacy and culture, and the new Rego Park library will certainly fulfill this promise."
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said, “I am proud to have played a role, as the former Borough President, in helping to bring a new, modern library to the neighborhood. This larger, upgraded facility will provide a safe place for children and teens. When this makeover is complete, it will give our seniors and everyone else in the surrounding area greater access to computers, community activities and, of course, thousands of entertaining and educational books to read.”
“Queens Public Library (QPL) has been serving our borough for well over a century,” said State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky. “During the COVID-19 pandemic I was proud to take part in their Virtual Read Along series, which was just one example of the creative ways the Library continues to engage and interact with the community. With this new state-of-the-art facility, I believe QPL’s potential impact on Rego Park and the surrounding community is limitless.”
“I am proud to stand here today with my friends at Queens Public Library and DDC to unveil the new design for the Rego Park Library,” State Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr. said. “Whenever a library undergoes a complete makeover it is a chance to update and improve an important community resource. I look forward to being back here to open the new branch and check out all of the amazing upgrades, while also welcoming the community back.”
“Rego Park desperately needs an enlarged library. This was also the case over twenty years ago when I was able to get an approval for a new library. Over the years, the project was unable to get underway because the financial goalposts kept changing and additional funding had to be secured,” said Council Member Karen Koslowitz. “Today, I can say with confidence, thanks to the support of four past and present borough presidents, four past and present council speakers and Mayor de Blasio, this library project is finally on its’ way to completion.”
“I truly appreciate the time and effort that Queens Public Library and the Department of Design and Construction has put into the design for our new library,” said District Manager for Queens Community Board 6 Frank Gulluscio. “We enthusiastically look forward to the project coming to fruition for our community.”
“The students, families and staff of P.S. 139 are all very excited about the plans for our new local public library and we extend a very heartfelt thanks to all that are making this possible,” said Eleuterio Rolon, Jr., Principal of P.S. 139 in Rego Park. “Our local library has always been an important part of the community and we look forward to many more years of partnership for the benefit of all of our students.”
About Queens Public Library
Queens Public Library is one of the largest and busiest public library systems in the United States, dedicated to serving the most ethnically and culturally diverse area in the country. An independent, non-profit organization founded in 1896, Queens Public Library offers free access to a collection of more than 5 million books and other materials in multiple languages, technology and digital resources, and more than 87,500 educational, cultural, and civic programs a year. It consists of 66 locations, including 62 branch libraries, a Central Library, seven adult learning centers, a technology lab, and two teen centers.
About the NYC Department of Design and Construction
The Department of Design and Construction is the City’s primary capital construction project manager. In supporting Mayor de Blasio’s long-term vision of growth, sustainability, resiliency, equity and healthy living, DDC provides communities with new or renovated public buildings such as such as firehouses, libraries, police precincts, and new or upgraded roads, sewers and water mains in all five boroughs. To manage this $15.5 billion portfolio, DDC partners with other City agencies, architects and consultants, whose experience bring efficient, innovative and environmentally-conscious design and construction strategies to City projects. For more information, please visit nyc.gov/ddc.
Contact:
Queens Public Library—Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska, 917-702-0016, ekern@queenslibrary.org
NYC DDC—Shoshana Khan, 718-391-1251, KhanSho@ddc.nyc.gov
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Spotlight on New Books for July/August
Check out the library’s newest arrivals for adults, teens, and children. Enjoy critically acclaimed selections such as historical nonfiction, a YA novel about an apocalypse, and a picture book about listening.
July 6, 2021
Any Way the Wind Blows (YA)
by Rainbow Rowell Book eBook
Bestselling author Rowell concludes her Simon Snow trilogy with a return to England for the characters, who must decide what comes next.
July 6, 2021
This Is Your Mind on Plants (adult)
by Michael Pollan
In this book of participatory journalism starred by Kirkus and BookPage, bestselling author Pollan explores and questions the world of three mind-altering drugs: caffeine, mescaline, and opium.
July 13, 2021
Carry On (adult)
by John Lewis and Kabir Sehgal Book eBook
This collection of wisdom from the late Congressman John Lewis offers his thoughts and reflections on experiences from his legendary life as a civil rights icon.
July 13, 2021
Listen (children)
by Gabi Snyder and illustrated by Stephanie Graegin
Starred by Kirkus, this picture book invites children to focus mindfully on the sounds they hear during their everyday routines.
July 27, 2021
World in Between: Based on A True Refugee Story (children)
by Kenan Trebincevic and Susan Shapiro
This is the riveting account of a Muslim boy’s journey from Bosnia to the United States – and everything he feels and learns along the way.
July 27, 2021
Walls (YA)
by L.M. Elliott
Starred by Kirkus, this historical novel explores the friendship between two teens who are cousins on opposite sides of the Berlin Wall.
August 3, 2021
All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler (adult)
by Rebecca Donner
Mildred Harnack’s great-great niece shares the story of Harnack’s incredible leadership in the resistance to the Nazis in this biography starred by Publishers Weekly.
August 3, 2021
Black Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood (children)
by Kwame Mbalia
Editor Kwame Mbalia, author of bestselling middle-grade novels, compiles stories that celebrate all of the joys of black boyhood in prose, poems, and comics. Booklist and Kirkus both starred this collection.
August 3, 2021
The Turnout (adult)
by Megan Abbott
Bestselling author Abbott probes the inner workings of a family-run ballet studio just as an accident threatens its production of The Nutcracker in this novel featured on many lists of the most-anticipated books of 2021.
August 17, 2021
Cazadora (YA)
by Romina Garber
Starred by Kirkus, and on Book Riot’s list of Must-Read 2021 YA Fantasy as well as Hip Latina’s list of Must-Read Books by Latinx Authors Out in 2021, this fantasy sequel to Lobizona is a world drawn from Argentine folklore.
Flushing Library Update
Flushing, NY (July 16, 2021)—Queens Public Library officials today notified elected leaders and community members that the Library’s Flushing branch, the busiest in the United States, will be closed until further notice when the City ends its vaccination operation there later this summer due to the failure of the building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.
The heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) system became inoperable in late May, and despite multiple attempts and approaches, the Library and the City determined it could not be repaired.
Queens Public Library is working on an expedited basis with the City to replace the Library’s HVAC system, originally installed in 1998 when the then-newly constructed building opened for the first time. The design, engineering, and installation work may need to be completed in phases, taking many months. In the meantime, the Library and City are exploring temporary cooling and heating options.
In addition, the City has been planning to begin work on a new, additional public elevator in the building, potentially in the fall, which will necessitate a closure of the branch.
“We know very well that the library is the center of community life in Flushing and that it is an invaluable resource. So many people have been looking forward to the library’s reopening and unfortunately it is unclear when this will be possible,” said Queens Public Library President and CEO Dennis M. Walcott. “Replacing the HVAC system will take considerable time — it is an extremely complicated system — and we are working with the City to determine the best plan of action for installing a new one, and to evaluate options for a temporary solution. This work, along with the construction of a new, second public elevator, is enormously complex. We look forward to updating the community with further details as they become available."
On background, only for attribution to QPL officials:
- In FY 2019, Flushing Library drew 1.7 million visitors, circulated 1 million items and brought in 184,000 program attendees.
- Flushing Library closed in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It opened as a fulfillment center for requests in July 2020 and began providing to-go service in November 2020. The City converted the library into a vaccination site in March 2021, becoming its second busiest.
- Flushing Library is a vital community resource. It is the first stop for New Americans. It buzzes with activity every day, from the moment the building opens to the moment it closes.
- People from all five boroughs routinely visit to pick up materials in dozens of languages and dialects, read, study, gather with one another, or attend one of the hundreds of topnotch English classes, GED prep courses, technology workshops, job readiness classes, and other programs offered there each year.
- The City of New York owns the building, and the agreement between the City and the Library governing the administration of the public libraries in Queens explicitly provides that the City, at its own expense, is responsible for such repairs or restoration as may be reasonably necessary in order to keep the library buildings in proper condition.
- The building, completed 23 years ago in 1998, is the third to be built on the site — the first was a gift of Andrew Carnegie.
- The building includes a 227-seat auditorium, a multi-purpose room for 150, conference rooms, exhibition areas, an Adult Learning Center and an International Resource Center.
- It comprises 77,000 square feet, and required 28 million pounds of concrete, 1 million pounds of re-bar and steel, 30,000 linear feet of piping and more than 450,000 linear feet of electrical wiring in its construction.
- The HVAC system is original to Flushing Library. It is enormously complicated, and consists of several components that together generate 2.4 million BTU (British Thermal Units)/hour. A major component of the system failed, rendering the system inoperable.
- When the temperatures rose on several days in late May, the City installed portable air conditioners, which proved to be insufficient and did not keep the temperature and humidity within acceptable limits for the staff and the public.
- The City was forced to relocate its vaccination operation to large buses parked outside the building, and staff are using the building as a staging area and are using its bathrooms.
- The City has started moving its vaccination operations to an adjacent synagogue and plans to vacate the library later this summer.
- Barring a change to state law or an emergency declaration that suspends existing procurement rules, the City will be constrained by law to using the traditional design-bid-build project delivery method used on the majority of City construction projects.
Contact: Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska, ekern@queenslibrary.org
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Pride Month may be over, but our resources list is here to stay! Here’s a sampling of the resources we’ve compiled in the areas of advocacy and services, archives and museums, arts, culture & media, healthcare and research, and legal. We’ve even included information on Pride flags. For our complete resources list, visit queenslib.org/pride2021. Our website includes booklists for all ages!
Advocacy & Services:
The Center
The Center fosters a welcoming environment where everyone is celebrated for who they are. They offer the LGBTQ communities of NYC advocacy, health and wellness programs; arts, entertainment and cultural events; recovery; parenthood; and family support services.
Hetrick-Martin Institute
Hetrick-Martin Institute believes all young people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, deserve a safe and supportive environment in which to achieve their full potential. Hetrick-Martin creates this environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth between the ages of 13 and 24 and their families. Through a comprehensive package of direct services and referrals, Hetrick-Martin seeks to foster healthy youth development. Hetrick-Martin’s staff promotes excellence in the delivery of youth services and uses its expertise to create innovative programs that other organizations may use as models.
LGBT Network: Q-Center
The Queens LGBT Center (Q-Center) is the LGBT Network's community center located in Long Island City. The Q-Center offers a range of services for LGBT people of all ages, and a safe space for LGBT people to build community.
Archives & Museums:
Library of Congress LGBT Resources Portal
The collections of the Library of Congress contain many books, posters, sound recordings, manuscripts, and other material produced by, about, and for the LGBTQ community. The contributions of this community are preserved as part of our nation’s history, and include noted artistic works, musical compositions, and contemporary novels. The Library’s American collections range from the iconic poetry of Walt Whitman through the manuscripts of the founder of LGBTQ activism in Washington, D.C., Frank Kameny.
NYC LBGT Historic Sites Project
The Project’s groundbreaking work documents historic sites connected to New York City’s LGBT community, giving life to its oft-untold history and influence on America.
NYC Trans Oral History Project
This is a collective community archive working to document transgender resistance and resilience in New York City. They work to confront the erasure of trans lives and to record diverse histories of gender as intersecting with race and racism, poverty, dis/ability, aging, housing, migration, sexism, and the AIDS crisis.
Arts, Culture & Media
Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance
The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance creates, produces, presents, and supports the development of cutting-edge and challenging works in contemporary dance and all creative disciplines that are empowering to women, Latinos and people of color, and the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) community.
NewFest: NY LGBTQ Film Festival
New York’s LGBTQ Film Festival features over 160 films, panels, and parties, and attracts over 14,000 attendees from around the globe every October. Their annual celebration of the year’s best LGBTQ film and media has grown to become a vital part of New York City’s cultural landscape, and one of the world’s premier gatherings of LGBTQ filmmakers and artists.
Stonewall Inn
The place where Pride began!
Flags
Pride.com’s Complete Guide to Queer Pride Flags
Many flags represent LGBTQ+ Pride and more are always being created. Get familiar with them.
Healthcare & Research
amFAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research
amFAR’s top research priority is the pursuit of a cure for HIV/AIDS. In 2014, they launched the Countdown to a Cure for AIDS, a research initiative aimed at developing the scientific basis of a cure by the end of 2020. To that end, they initiated a multi-year $100 million investment strategy designed to advance a range of scientific approaches with the potential to achieve HIV remission or cure.
Callen-Lorde Health Centers
Callen-Lorde Community Health Center provides sensitive, quality health care and related services targeted to New York’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities — in all their diversity — regardless of ability to pay. To further this mission, Callen-Lorde promotes health education and wellness, and advocates for LGBTQ health issues.
VillageCare
VillageCare is a community-based, not-for-profit organization serving people with chronic care needs, seniors and individuals in need of continuing care and rehabilitation services, and persons living with HIV/AIDS, as well as other chronic diseases, for over 40 years.
Legal
LGBT Bar NY Podcast (NYC LeGAL)
The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York (LeGaL) was one of the nation’s first bar associations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) legal community and remains one of the largest and most active organizations of its kind in the country. Serving the New York metropolitan area, LeGaL is dedicated to promoting the expertise and advancement of LGBT legal professionals while serving the larger community.
Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund
Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund is committed to ending discrimination based upon gender identity and expression and to achieving equality for transgender people through public education, test-case litigation, direct legal services, and public policy efforts.
UnLocal’s Queer Immigrant Justice Project
UnLocal's Queer Immigrant Justice Project helps with LGBTQ+ immigration issues. Contact them if you have been a victim of crime, abuse, human trafficking or any other form of violence as an immigrant.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, Speaker Corey Johnson, and the New York City Council agree on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2022. Photo courtesy of John McCarten and the NYC Council.
.Statement By NYC's Library Leaders on the FY 22 City Budget
July 1, 2021—Today, Brooklyn Public Library President Linda E. Johnson, The New York Public Library President Anthony W. Marx, and Queens Public Library President Dennis M. Walcott issued the following statement in response to New York City’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget:
“In an understandably uncertain budget year, we are incredibly thankful to Mayor de Blasio, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Finance Chair Daniel Dromm, Cultural Affairs and Libraries Chair Jimmy Van Bramer and all the members of the administration and City Council for keeping New York City’s public libraries strong as we all move forward into our next chapter. Libraries—welcoming spaces where everyone can come together to learn, grow, and unlock doors of opportunity—will continue to be critical to New York’s recovery and reawakening, so it is a win for the people of our city that our partners in government recognized their critical role and found a way to avoid devastating cuts that would have profoundly impacted public service.
“The over $22 million previously proposed cut in operating money at stake would have meant reducing our collections budgets, shortening library hours, and operating below pre-pandemic levels, right when our City needs us most. As we reopen all of our remaining locations in July and work towards full expansion of service, we are so grateful for the resources to ramp up to the level of service New Yorkers need and expect. We are also grateful to the tens of thousands of supporters who signed letters and called their elected representatives urging support for libraries during the budget process, and shared how libraries were essential sources of information, education, and support throughout the pandemic. We offered virtual programming, grab-and-go service and even served as vaccination hubs and testing sites.
“The commitment shown to our libraries by Mayor de Blasio, Speaker Johnson, Finance Chair Dromm, Cultural Affairs and Libraries Chair Van Bramer, the budget negotiating team and the entire City Council is deeply appreciated, and will allow us to continue to provide vital services to New York City’s diverse communities.”
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This Pride Month, Queens Memory presented a program on LGBTQ+ Voices in Libraries. At the LGBTQ+ Voices in Libraries panel, moderated by Marissa Richardson, the assistant manager at Auburndale Library and chair of the LGBTQ + Allies Committee at QPL, LGBTQ librarians and an ally talked about their experiences showing LGBTQ customers they are welcome in the library.
Crescent Isaac-Muhammad, an ally who is a customer service specialist at Long Island City Library, shared how becoming an ally has changed the perspective of those around her, including her own family members, and made them more comfortable to talk to her and more accepting of others. Muhammad explained that it is intimidating not to be included and that once they showed the library was a LGBTQ supporter with book displays, customers felt more comfortable.
Asher MacInnis-Call, a non-binary librarian who is the assistant manager at Kew Gardens Hills, talked about using signals to show you’re a safe person or place. They described these signals as breadcrumbs, such as clothing or buttons showing LGBTQ symbols such as the trans flag. MacInnis-Call also talked about the importance of assuring intersectionality by being intentional and not just showing white cis LBBTQ authors, but including neurodiverse, disabled, and ethnically and racially diverse perspectives. “Ask colleagues what’s missing,” they encouraged their peers. They spoke about the overwhelming interest at Queens Public Library in the LGBTQ committee when it started, an interest that was so large that the committee’s first meeting had to be moved to another room to fit all those present.
Policies are just as important as the attitude that you project. Training about why policies are important can be crucial to help people understand why such policies matter. MacInnis-Call discussed situations when someone’s ID may not match their presentation, and the importance of using the name that they gave. Thomas Maxheimer, the manager of Ridgewood Library, speaking from the house of a relative who had previously not welcomed him in many years because he is gay, shared that the LGBTQ committee is working to achieve a written policy to use a person’s preferred name on their library card; many librarians do this already to be inclusive and welcoming. One written policy the committee has already successfully changed was to remove the Mr./Ms. designation from the library card application.
Muhammad spoke about the value of the library’s implicit bias training and that it could help prevent people from having unhelpful reactions to customers. MacInnis-Call emphasized that we can’t make the public safe for everyone, but we can make ourselves safe people for others. It only takes one person to make you comfortable, Muhammad said, sharing an experience she had with a transgender customer after making a Pride book display. The more diverse experiences you are exposed to, the more you see that experiences are not universal, MacInnis-Call said. Maxheimer shared that kids come out to him in the library, knowing from the symbols on his ID that he is a safe person.
The panel encouraged others to start LGBTQ committees to share resiliency, ideas, and camaraderie as well as to make change.
For LGBTQ resources and booklists, visit queenslib.org/pride2021.
Watch the panel here.
Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. We've compiled reading lists and are presenting a virtual program that re-enacts the first Juneteenth, when slaves in Texas learned they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation two years before. We also have other virtual programs: crafts, storytime, and a musical celebration of resilience.
All Queens Public Library locations will be closed on Saturday, June 19 in observation of Juneteenth. Join the Mobile Library from 10am-2pm at Roy Wilkins Park for the Juneteenth in Queens festival. Langston Hughes Library will also be tabling at the festival. Attend the festival's virtual panels in the days leading up to Juneteenth.
Programs:
Juneteenth Storytime
Join Alexandra, children's librarian at Langston Hughes Library, and Rosemary, assistant manager at Corona Library, for a Juneteenth storytime. They will read Juneteenth Jamboree by Carole Boston Weatherford and Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine. Watch on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/QPLNYC.
Saturday, June 19, 11am
Juneteenth: Celebration of Resilience
Join Hip Hop Coordinator Ralph McDaniels for a virtual DJ experience celebrating the beauty and contributions of the African diaspora through music. Tune in on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/QPLNYC or @QPLNYC.
Saturday, June 19, 1pm
Saturday Craft Series: Juneteenth Personalized Flag
Participants will alter the color scheme of the American flag to represent red, black, and green. In addition, we will decorate the borders and interior of the flag with words that celebrate their family values, the relevance of Juneteenth, and/or the greatness of our African Ancestry. Materials needed: Colored construction paper (red, black, green, and yellow) or strips of white paper that they will color in, markers or crayons, scissors, and glue or tape. Sign up here.
Saturday, June 19, 1pm
Juneteenth: No More Masters, No More Slaves
The 6th Regiment United States Colored Troops Reenactors present a vignette of the moment when two enslaved women working in the cotton fields in Texas were informed by two black soldiers of the United States Colored Troops that they had been freed by President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation nearly two years ago. Algernon Ward Jr. discusses the aftermath of the first Juneteenth celebration. Join here: https://queenslib.org/3uJtHaO
Saturday, June 19, 2pm
Books:
Adult Fiction:
Conjure Women: A Novel by Afia Atakora: Book eBook eAudiobook
Homegoing: A Novel by Yaa Gyasi: Book eBook eAudiobook
Juneteenth: A Novel by Ralph Ellison: Book eBook eAudiobook
The Underground Railroad: A Novel by Colson Whitehead: Book eBook Audiobook
Washington Black: A Novel by Esi Edugyan: Book eBook eAudiobook
Adult Nonfiction:
On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed: Book
Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon: Book eBook
Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: Book eBook eAudiobook
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson: Book eBook Audiobook
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates: Book eBook Audiobook
The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America's Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War by Andrew Delbanco: Book eBook
Children's Fiction:
Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine and illustrated by Kadir Nelson: Book eBook eAudiobook
Juneteenth for Mazie by Floyd Cooper: Book eBook
The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis: Book eBook eAudiobook
Children's Nonfiction:
The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and illustrated by Kadir Nelson: Book eBook
The ABCs of Black History by Rio Cortez and illustrated by Lauren Semmer: Book eBook
Hidden Black History: From Juneteenth to Redlining by Amanda Jackson Green: Book eBook
All Different Now: Juneteenth, The First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson and illustrated by Earl B. Lewis: Book eBook
Juneteenth by Angela Leeper and Joanna Ponto: Book eBook
Young Adult Nonfiction:
In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives by Kenneth C. Davis: Book eBook
See more Juneteenth eBooks on the Libby App!
The first anniversary of George Floyd’s killing is a moment to reflect on the meaning of what happened that day and on the role each of us has to play in combating racism and making the world a better place. Queens Public Library remains committed to promoting understanding, creating educational and economic opportunities for all and bringing our communities together.
Dennis M. Walcott
President & CEO, Queens Public Library