ISSUES
Turning pages at GRPL Young and motivated, Jessica Anne Bratt is pushing the institution’s revival. BY SAM EASTER
// PHOTO BY DAVID SPARKS
People who know Jessica Anne Bratt describe her as something of a library wunderkind — a 34-year-old who was promoted last year to become the Grand Rapids Public Library’s first Black assistant director. She’s written widely published book reviews. She’s served on an alphabet soup’s worth of committees and boards. Library Journal named her to a “mover and shaker” list in 2016. Her boss said she’ll probably have his job one day. But she’s coming of age in a changing world for libraries. Think about the last time you wanted to know how big Texas was, or the last time you thought about skimming through “The Great Gatsby.” That’s all a tap on your smartphone away — what do you need a library for, anyway? This is where Bratt, a library evangelist if ever there was one, really shines. Like most other people in the profession nowadays, she’s happy to admit you don’t need her to show you where the 20-pound World Atlas is (remember those?). But the world is changing, she said, and it needs libraries more than ever. “We’re, in some ways, the palaces for the people,” Bratt said. “There have been dwindling opportunities for quality experiences for families for a very long 18
GRAND RAPIDS MAGAZINE • MARCH/APRIL 2022
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