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SEPTEMBER 2005

Susan Kent

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.#

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