Profile: Susan Kent,
Director & Chief, NY Public Library
By Joan Baum, Ph.D
It sounds apocryphal, but
the new Director and Chief Executive of The Branch Libraries
for the New York Public Library (NYPL) swears it’s true,
and she beams in the retelling: there she was last year in
LA, where, as City Librarian for the Los Angeles Public Library,
she had just completed a massive facilities infrastructure
upgrade and was attending an opening of one of the reconstructed
branch libraries. A boy, about nine, came in with his mother
and was urged to look around. Some time later he returned and
without prompting blurted out: “This is the best place
in the whole world!” And that, says Susan Kent, is what
her work has always been about—in LA, and now as CEO
of the three-borough NYPL branch library system, covering 85
libraries in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island (Queens
and Brooklyn have, historically, always had a separate system).
L.A. was wonderful, Susan
Kent sighs, a place of fond memories and great success in superintending
a central library and 71 branch libraries more widely dispersed
than the branches in New York, but she is delighted to be back
in the city where she grew up (a Bronx native) and where she
found her first job after college (as a librarian trainee at
the Grand Concourse branch). She was intrigued when NYPL President
Paul LeClerc asked her to consider coming to the NYPL, and,
though barely 11 months on the job, she is “challenged” and
energized by the opportunity to “reanimate” the
branch library mission, much of which will involve working
closely with the Department of Education (DOE) and reaching
out to benefactors to support new goals, many focused on children
and teens.
The time could not be more
critical for such initiatives, especially with the present
shortage and the anticipated retirement of long-time librarians
and the changing nature of information science and technology.
Susan Kent will be explaining to the political and administrative
powers that be the new information scene and the need for staff
(re)training and professional development. “We need experienced
librarians,” they are as valuable as teachers in the
classroom and they should be paid accordingly. Among imminent
considerations: how should library buildings be reconfigured
to accommodate cyberspace? Indeed, the fastest growing use
in the branch libraries, data show, is the Internet, and that’s
just fine with Susan Kent. Books are only one resource in getting
information.
Susan Kent knows her
field and loves her work. Libraries are a “great American
value,” she says, a broad smile accompanying her declaration.
Although she holds a Master’s degree from Columbia
University’s Library School (now closed), her first
career move was in medieval studies. Why? She laughs, remarkably
frank, who knows? But she does recall that ever since she
became a reference librarian in the Bronx and was asked “just
about everything,” she became passionate about libraries
and the multiple social and intellectual roles they play
in communities. Libraries can educate parents, caregivers,
health and social workers about what and how to read to toddlers,
but libraries should also be continuing and expanding their
offerings in after-school reading and job programs, ESL classes
for immigrants, literacy projects, children’s corners,
teen spaces. It’s important for youngsters to feel
that their spaces are special, with appropriate furniture
and relevant resources, including videos and audio tapes
as well as books. Susan Kent wants all kids to say feel what
that nine-year old in L.A. expressed: “Oh, wow, I want
to be here!” An optimist—”if you get them
into a library, they’ll pick up reading material”—she
is exploring new ways to attract youngsters, including providing
internships for seniors in high school and implementing a
homework help site for all grades, both projects under discussion
with the DOE. Susan Kent certainly hopes she’ll get
all the support she needs to advance and enhance the city’s
only free and most wonderful public service.#
