AT THE LIBRARY, SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

(Article published in HWW October 2009)

Welcoming guests to the Bronx Library Center, Ken English isn’t exaggerating when he says “People walk through our doors for many different reasons. They want to teach their children... they want to help their kids with their homework... they want to get a job...”

Ken is Director of Literacy Programs for the New York Public Library of which the Bronx center is a part. Every day thousands of New Yorkers of all ages walk through the glass doors of this gorgeous new $50 million, open floor five-story building which opened just a few years ago a few blocks off the Grand Concourse.

If you go there, too, you’ll discover an unbelievable variety of treasures – all free for you to use. Start at the basement at the Center for Reading and Writing. Here, volunteer tutors work with New Yorkers from age 16 on up who speak English but whose literacy skills can be as low as zero. Their classes aim to bring their reading and writing skills up to at least 5th or 6th grade level.

A man named Stanley, fortyish, busy filling out a written exercise page – PEN. PAN. PIN, over and over until he really knows those vowels. “I used to drink a lot but then I stopped – it left an emptiness that needed to be filled,” Stanley tells visitors. He says learning to read and write has filled that emptiness. “Now on the subway I don’t have to count the stops any more. I can read the signs.”

Barbara Martinez, director of the Center for Reading and Writing, is understandably proud of their work. She says “We have so many students who have come so far. Some can read the papers when they couldn’t before. Some can write a note to their children’s teachers when they couldn’t before. Some have even earned their citizenship.”

Upstairs, there’s a center for teens and a whole sunny floor full of books for children. There are classes in English as a Second Language and a technology training center, computer access, an auditorium, a conference room for community use, and a Latino and Puerto Rican Cultural Center.

Especially important now that times are tough, you’ll find many free resources to help people who are looking for jobs – anything from checking out career opportunities (the library recently started holding job-search expos) to free one-on-one help with writing cover letters and resumes.

But it isn’t just residents of the Bronx that can access these treasures. NYC has three great library systems, each with many branches and a rich offering of programs. The New York Public Library system covers the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island. The boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn each have their own extensive networks of libraries. Whether you are looking for classes, or help with job search, or just good entertainment, you can call the branch library nearest you or the central library number and ask where to find what you want.

For information about the New York Public Library system call (917) 275-6975.

For information about the Queens Public Library system call (718) 990-0728, 0714.

For information about the Brooklyn Public Library system call (718) 230-2100.