THIS IS QUEENSBOROUGH
queenschamber.org
COVER STORY
MORE THAN JUST BOOKS IN BUILDINGS BY SHANE MILLER On March 19, 1896, a library in Long Island City opened its doors, and with two other libraries in Astoria, the trio formed the Long Island City Public Library. When Queens consolidated with New York City in 1901, a new charter proposed joining all of the libraries in Queens under one umbrella. In 1907, the Queens Public Library was officially incorporated. Just over 125 years later, Dennis Walcott now serves as president and CEO of Queens Public Library (QPL), steering it through arguably one of the most trying years in its century-and-a-quarter history, as one of the most public of institutions joined the rest of the city in closing its doors. But one of the largest and busiest public library systems in the most ethnically and culturally diverse area in the country didn’t abandon its mission to serve the people of Queens by “building strong communities,” as its mission statement declares. If anything, the pandemic proved how integral the library system is to the people and neighborhoods of the World’s Borough. “It did for a host of different reasons,” Walcott told This Is Queensborough about what COVID-19 taught him about the importance the library plays in people’s lives. “One, the library plays a very key role in that it is our responsibility to have information available to the public. “But on the negative side, we really miss having the public in our buildings and miss having the public access information directly,” he added. “We miss the informal network and the safe haven we play for the public, and I know the public misses that tremendously.” Queens Public Library (QPL) closed its doors on March 16 of last year, but by March 30 was up and running with a variety of virtual programming, offering everything from children’s story hour to ESL classes to resume development workshops. Currently, QPL offers
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Dennis Walcott (right) with former mayor David Dinkins in 2016, the year Walcott became head of QPL. about 75 virtual sessions per week. “It’s not as a result of me, it’s a result of the really smart and dedicated group of people who work here,” said Walcott. “They turned on a dime and started ramping up around the virtual world. Everybody was just fantastic and built it up rather quickly, expanded it and diversified the offerings.” The library addressed serious issues, as well. Last summer, when the discussion about race relations in this country began to heat up, the library hosted a session with Attorney General Letitia James on the subject. QPL also hosted an interactive discussion with Dr. Lisa Cooper of Johns Hopkins University about vaccine hesitancy. “Several people with vaccine hesitancy told some of our team members that after seeing Dr. Lisa Cooper, they decided to go get a vaccine,”
Walcott said. “She was able to provide information that addressed some of their concerns.” As part of Black History Month in February, the library important to the African-American community, especially as they relate to the pandemic and mental health. People from across the nation and even the world joined in the discussion. “The crazy guy I am, I get up early to do my workout, so I woke up extra early to watch the insomnia session at 3 o’clock in the morning,” said Walcott.
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PL is also playing an integral role in fighting the pandemic. Last month, the Flushing
Library halted service and was converted into a vaccination site. When Walcott spoke with Queensborough, he was actually on his way to the Ozone Park Library to check in on that branch’s conversion into a second vaccination site. “We always wanted to play a role if we could be helpful,” said Walcott. “So we worked with the city to turn the Flushing Library into a vaccination site. We’ve always wanted to serve the city in whatever way we could around the pandemic.” That includes opening COVID19 testing sites at several branches. To date, over 60,000 people have been tested at the Lefferts, Ozone Park, Windsor Park or Kew Gar-
“BUT ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE, WE REALLY MISS HAVING THE PUBLIC IN OUR BUILDINGS AND MISS HAVING THE PUBLIC ACCESS INFORMATION DIRECTLY. WE MISS THE INFORMAL NETWORK AND SAFE HAVEN WE PLAY.”
