All language subtitles for Ex.Libris.The.New.York.Public.Library.2017.720p.BluRay.AAC2.0.x264-HEZKY

My foundation,

the Richard Dawkins Foundation
for Reason & Science,

is actually trying
to raise consciousness

that there are many,
many more people

who are not religious in America

than many people realize,
including politicians realize.

So you'll see politicians
on television

in their so-called debates

sucking up
to the religious lobby

and forgetting
that the non-religious lobby

is at least 20% in America,

which is as large
as any particular religion,

and yet it gets ignored
because it's not vocal enough.

And so we have, my foundation,

the Richard Dawkins Foundation
for Reason & Science,

has a campaign
called Openly Secular,

which is an attempt
to raise consciousness

of the fact
that there are lots and lots

of non-religious people
in America,

far more
than politicians realize

and far more
than each other realizes.

In an interview
recently, you said,

quote, "I don't think
I'd call myself combative.

I think I'd call myself
a lover of truth."

And I'm wondering,
what is your truth?

When I appear to be combative

and strident and shrill,

which I'm often accused of,

the reason is that
I'm stating simple facts,

and sometimes simple facts
are disagreeable to people.

For example, a few years ago...
About 20 years ago, actually...

In The New York Times,

I wrote, "Anybody who claims
to be a young Earth creationist

is either stupid,
ignorant, or insane."

Now, that is a simple
statement of fact.

That's not
a polemical statement.

But you said, which I like...

But it sounds...
It sounds polemical

because we've all got
so used to thinking

that you just don't say things
like that about, about religion.

And I must add
at that point, of course,

that sensible religious people
have no problem with evolution.

It's just, it's just the
fundamentalists, and for them,

the problem is usually not
actually insanity or stupidity,

it's usually actually ignorance.

And ignorance is no crime.

We're all ignorant
of all kinds of things.

So there's no crime
to be ignorant

of evolution,

but you just shouldn't be quite
so loud-mouthed about it.

You also said this thing,

which I want to sort of go into,

which is, "Science
is the poetry of reality."

Which is a beautiful way
of putting it,

and I'm wondering if you could

just talk about that further.

I mean, just, you write
in a very poetic way.

You're influenced by music.

You're a lover of literature

and then also,
just as a science.

I mean, there are so many things

feeding into that idea, I guess.

I suppose I would take
the ideal role model for this,

somebody like Carl Sagan,

or his modern-day successor,
Neil deGrasse Tyson,

or Carolyn Porco,

who see, look out at the cosmos,

look out at the universe,
as poets.

And why not?

I mean, who could not
be moved poetically

by the sheer size
and scale of the universe,

the sheer number of stars?

The same thing happens
in biology, in my own field,

when you think

about the prodigious,
stupefying complexity

of a single living cell,

let alone a body consisting
of trillions of cells,

when you think
that we now understand

where all that complexity
came from.

We now understand that it came

from gradual process,

incremental natural selection,

lasting over hundreds
of millions of years,

culminating

in creatures like us,

with brains big enough
to understand the whole process.

And we in the 21st century

are privileged
to live after Darwin,

after Newton, after Einstein.

And therefore we are privileged
to get that into our heads

in a way
that our ancestors couldn't.

Who could not be moved
poetically by that?

Good morning,
thanks for calling Ask NYPL.

How can I help?

Oh, the Gutenberg Bible

is temporarily unavailable
for viewing.

I see you've got one book
on hold

called Working with Bereavement.

I believe that the issue

is that you are very close
to the limit of 50.

Yes.

We still do have old books

showing coats of arms
from Europe

and things like that.

So let me go
through the list again.

You have Is There All...
Is That All There Is?,

Washington, DC,

Plants of Power, The Meaning of Life,

The Marriage Benefit,
Between Panic and Desire...

Okay, it's about the geography
and geology of New York City

back in the earliest, before...
Before the Dutch arrival,

okay, in the early 17th century.

So you can return your books

to any branch of Manhattan,
the Bronx, or Staten Island.

You cannot... you can't
return your material

to Brooklyn or Queens.

A unicorn is actually
an imaginary animal, okay?

He's not, it's not a creature
that ever existed.

No, I don't speak Spanish.

You need someone
who speaks Spanish?

Hold on.

The first appearance
I have of it

is in the year 1225, okay?

And it's got the opinion
of one ancient monk that...

I'll sort of have
to translate this

from Middle English,

which I'm a little poor in.

But he's sort of saying that man
is a wolf on the outside,

but inside himself,
he's a unicorn.

And they spell it with an E.

What you have is a question
that you want to answer.

You want to basically find

the place of origin
for Hermann Herzog.

What town, because...

Where did he come from
in Austria?

Right, because I've connected

in the Jewish genealogy group,
JewishGen,

with the person

who does all the
Jewish Herzogs in Austria.

Sure, uh-huh.

She just needed a town.

She just needed a town, okay.

So she's, she's...
Because she's a Herzog,

she has actually found
all of the Herzogs.

That's her specialty.

Mmm, oh, okay... oh.

So I was, like, I just...

So you just needed a little...

to narrow it down to which one.

What I'm going to say
we should do

is take a look
at the 1910 census...

Okay.

And get that information

about immigration
and naturalization.

What I would do next is,

is do a complete document sweep

and get everything you can find

that might give you clues
as to where, when he came in.

If you can find those
naturalization papers,

if he's accurately remembered
and described

when he immigrated...

Mm-hmm.

You might be able to then
go back to Ancestry

or Ellis Island...
the same lists...

Right.

And then browse by the ship.

Check the dates
of the ships coming in

and see if you can
find him in there.

Would I have to go through
a whole year's worth of ships?

No, because hopefully
he's remembered

the correct date
when he came in.

This is the right year,
because you know, the census,

they just ask whoever
answers the door.

But I'm, I'm hoping
in the naturalization record,

he may have correctly remembered
the date he came in...

And the town...

The day and, you know,
the day and month.

Okay.

And I mean, there's probably...

In the naturalization papers,

the place of origin
might be in there, as well.

So it's...

I can't see naturalization
papers online, though, right?

Ancestry has some.

We have a database called Fold3.

Oh, right.

I'm going to put you
on Fold3 next...

Okay.

And see if you
can pull something up.

It was Andrew Carnegie

who invented
for this institution,

and I think, more broadly,

the idea
of public-private partnership.

Indeed, this institution,

despite the word "public"
in its title,

is the quintessential
public-private partnership.

Literally half the funding
of the New York Public Library

comes from the public,
particularly the city,

and half comes
from private sources,

including people in this room.

And it's private philanthropy

that launched the pilots
that we then assess,

again, using private sources,

and look, and look

for other private associations
to partner with.

And what's been
fascinating to watch

is the way in which those
private investments...

Hi, Alberta...

Those private investments
have now inspired the city,

as public funder,

to provide the largest single
increase in city funding

to the public libraries
in history.

So, and, and one of the things
that you're going to see is,

now with the city back in
in full strength,

or close enough,

that will also inspire
more private philanthropy

to keep that cycle going.

That's one example.

A second example is on the issue
of internet connectivity.

Three million New Yorkers
are not connected at home.

They are in the digital dark.

We could have
all the content in the world,

but if you don't have connection
to it, it does you no good.

And this is how people
are learning and engaging

in the 21st century.

So again, we went,

we found private philanthropy.

We started a 10,000-household
lend of internet

into people's homes,

and that has in turn inspired

the White House and the FCC
to consider

moving billions
of federal dollars

through the FCC to get
at the digital divide problems

which keep
60 to 70 million Americans

in the digital dark.

So, again, an example of the way

in which private philanthropy
can move public investment.

Lastly, last example.

I've already said

you could have all the content
in the world,

but if you don't
have connectivity,

it does you not much good.

We do not yet
have all the content,

all the quality content

that this institution
represents.

We do not yet
have it all available.

The vast majority of the books,

archives, images
in this building

and throughout our system,

and indeed
throughout all libraries,

is not available online.

That is the Holy Grail
of the 21st century.

It's what this technology
wants to make possible.

It means we have
to digitize our collections.

It means we have to make deals
with publishers and authors

to pay fair compensation

for use of
copyrighted materials.

It means we need
to create a platform

that would enable people
in New York,

in the United States,

or, thinking about
Paul Farmer's great work,

anywhere in the world

to be able to get access
to this content.

Private philanthropy
will make that possible.

When we're talking
about philanthropy

in the 21st century,

at this moment in history,

inequality is the elephant
in the room.

I believe that education,
the access to information,

is the fundamental solution
over time

to inequality.

And I think its power

cannot be underestimated.

Okay, let me see
how yours turned out.

I think mine...

Oh, it worked, look.

Now let's add
some color in there.

So what are you going
to write in yours?

I hardly ever write in mine.

What are you supposed
to write in this?

This one says 70 divided by one.

What do you get?

70.

Good.

So press "okay."

Want to read about the monkeys?

Okay, let me see
how yours turned out.

I think mine...

Oh, it worked, look.

Okay, let's add
some stuff in there.

Eight?

You stopped at 39, right?

How many... so this is 39,
how many fingers are here?

Five.

Mm-hmm.

Five?

Let's see.

Oh!

How's it going, Ravi?

You like the book? Yeah.

Awesome. When you're
done with that book,

we've got to do
an activity, okay?

This is... you know,
this is every day

I give you the paper
with the activity, right?

You mean like that?

Yes, like that.

Take your time, finish reading.

The most famous

crime-fighting dog
in the country.

Country. Good job.

How did he fight the crime?

What made the burglars pass out?

The breath. Good.

So you can put that
they fought in the war.

So you can write about that.

Thank you.

But I don't have enough space.

You're going to have
space, don't worry.

And you can always just turn

and write on this side, right?

So just start.

Write that sentence
that you just told me.

F-I-...

No, no, F-R-I-E-N-D.

D-S, not D-E-S.

So you need to erase that
and write that over, please.

Ted got a red rock
at the pet store.

What do you get
at the pet store?

What is a pet store for?

A fish.

Okay, so that makes
better sense, right?

One, two, three, four, no?

This one.

Are you guessing?

Yes.

Should we be guessing? No.

And one of the things
I really found fascinating

about your book is the way

that you delineate
a kind of attention

between princes and clerics.

Ah, right.

Right? And there's a kind of a,

a sense that some
of the... friction

between political leaders
who are slightly more secular

or secularly oriented
towards the accumulation

of material power,
wealth, military power,

and the way that that ends up

being in conflict
with religious leaders

in the region.

These are two groups
of people that,

for the most part,

by the middle
of the 18th century,

cannot stand one another.

Okay?

Ruling political authorities
and clerical elites

are at odds with one another,
and this is in part

because at the end
of the 17th century,

there was a
revolutionary movement

directed by clerics
that sought to end

the Atlantic slave trade
at that point in time.

And when the...
the ruling hereditary kings

were able to successfully
make common cause

with the French slave traders
in the region,

and expel those clerics
that wanted

to end the slave trade,

those kings, they visited
a painful retribution

upon all of the clerics

that had been involved
in the uprising.

And they violated
centuries-old taboos

about not enslaving holy people.

So they had, you know,

people that were
Koran memorizers,

religious scholars, and they,

they rounded these people up

and they sold them off
into slavery,

and you've got accounts
that come, you know,

from French slave traders
like Jean Barbot in 1681

where he says, "I think
there was somebody like this

on one of the ships
that I filled in Gorée."

He said, "This black priest
was aboard, was aboard my boat

"for two months
before he spoke a word,

"so deep was his sorrow.

I sold him in
the American islands."

So the... the clerics weren't
used to this sort of treatment.

Kings violated, you know,
traditional protocols

by enslaving clerics en masse,
and so this leads

to really heightened tension
in the 18th century,

but it also leads to a situation
in the 18th century

where the clerics
are politically weak.

And it's part of the reason
why the slave trade

becomes so extensive from the region.
Right.

And there's all kinds
of critiques that come

from the clerical class
now about this,

essentially that their rulers
in this society

who are people that call
themselves Muslims,

they don't identify
with any other religion,

but they're trading
their own citizens, Muslims,

for rum, and guns,
and nice cloth.

And that's the kind of thing

that is going to lead
to a really powerful

and bitter critique
on the part of the clerics.

This is a notion
which is very pervasive

in a lot of the scholarship,

that slavery and Islam
somehow go together.

Yeah.

Either that there is a,
there is something

in the faith that licenses it,

that with the spread of Islam

goes the spread of slavery.

There's your local story,

but I also get the sense

that you're telling
a much bigger story

about how we think about Islam,

how we think about slavery,

and what their relationship
is to each other.

So, the short answer
is that we were told a lie

by late 19th- and early
20th-century orientalists

who suggested that...
that slavery and Islam

were coterminous,
and this was part

of a very motivated attempt
both to denigrate

African societies
and Muslim societies.

And, and to monopolize
claims on freedom

and emancipatory thought within a Western
post-enlightenment tradition.

So that Islam
and African society

become coterminous
with slavery and despotism,

and the white people
are to be given credit

for everything that
was ever liberatory

or emancipatory
in human thought.

And so the way
in which we approached

the question of the relationship

between slavery and Islam
was not historical.

It was polemical,
and people refer

to particular canonical text,

not the Koran itself,

almost never the Koran itself,

but to later legal text

to paint a portrait
of an Islamic law

that was accepting of slavery.

Whereas once you start
to scratch the surface

of the actual legal opinions,

you realize that nobody
agreed about anything,

and there were people
that never accepted the idea

that any enslavement
could happen

beyond the time
of the original wars

that the prophet
himself directed.

And that he himself
had freed any person

that he had ever owned
during his life

before he died,

and that there
was a very powerful

thread of antislavery thought
within Islam that was being

systematically downplayed.

So what I was doing is trying
to tell a historical story

that gave expression

to some of that
intellectual ambivalence

about slavery
within Muslim societies

and to see that people
actually found resources

to think against slavery

within conventional
Islamic thought.

This revolution in
the Senegal River Valley

was framed by a series

of conspicuous incidences
of enslavement

of prominent clerics
that increasingly

radicalized the society.

Clerics traditionally
in this region were people

who never held political power,

they were generally
forbidden to bear arms

and they did so anyway.

They taught themselves to do it,
because they said,

"If these are the kings that
we've got, then no more kings."

They not only tried
to abolish the...

first the slave trade,

then the institution
of slavery itself,

but they also abolished monarchy

and introduced a kind of form
of clerical republicanism,

and that's where the first

Atlantic revolution idea
comes in,

is that this is not
just a revolution

that is about defining
the bounds of liberty

in the same way that
the American revolution

or the Haitian revolution
or the French revolution

is trying to define
what liberty is.

Even if we end up
selling out pretty hard

on the whole slavery thing,
in this particular country.

But it's also one that,
that is seeking

to put an end to monarchy.

This is an Atlantic revolution

because some of its agents
and lieutenants

get exported as slaves,
and they end up

spreading word
of this revolution

in slave barracks.

But it's particularly
regrettable

insofar as this story

demonstrates that some
of the genealogies

of the values of liberty
and emancipatory thought

that we hold dear,

were articulated
not just by the, the ancestors

- of the European
population in this country,

But by the ancestors of
the African population as well.

And that they were
articulated in terms

that were thought through
with respect

to the Koran
rather than the Bible.

They were thought through
with respect

to the Atlantic experience

of being the victim
of the slave trade,

rather than
the Atlantic experience

of being the progenitors
of the slave trade.

When groups come
to power that are opposed

to the Atlantic slave trade,

the Europeans, while they
might not be able to go in

and force of the slave trade,
they're perfectly

capable of arming and providing

logistical support
and providing gunboats

and soldiers to parties
who are interested

in continuing the trade.

And that's what they do.

Clarkson refers to this

in his letters
on the slave trade.

He said the policy
of Europeans in Africa

is to... is to make,
is to subvert

the just principles
of government

and turn kings into wolves

instead of shepherds
amongst their people.

And so the...
if you want to just

think about it in a word,
the European policy

in Africa is "feed the wolves,
starve the shepherds."

This is a really
special library.

This library is

part of Lincoln Center.

So, we share its mission

of presenting
artistic excellence

of the highest caliber.

We're also part of
the New York Public Library,

so we share
the library's mission

of being a warm, welcoming place

that's committed to education
and committed to nurturing

everyone's individual passions
and curiosity.

And we like to think that

we're a great marriage
of those two missions,

the mission of Lincoln Center

and the mission
of the New York Public Library.

And this recital tonight

really represents that well,
in my opinion.

We have some wonderful
pieces of music,

especially terrific work

by the amazing composer
Ned Rorem.

Carolyn is an incredible
pianist, a great artist.

She's performed in many of
the...

our city's great
performance halls,

and she's also, I think,
a wonderful embodiment

of that welcoming,
generous spirit

that the Library tries
to embody as well.

We are here today
so we can offer jobs

to 17 to 35
qualified individuals.

Um, you know, basically,
you all know what we do.

We do defend the country.

I'm here for active Army
and Army Reserve, 17 to 35.

We are always hiring at
Morris Heights Health Center,

and we always
have opportunities,

whether it's for administration,
whether it's for marketing,

whether it's for healthcare,
customer service, clerical,

you name it, we've got it
at Morris Heights.

We do have a table

where we're providing
free screenings today.

We're checking
the blood pressure,

we're checking the sugar,
and we're also

doing rapid H.I.V.
testing today, completely free.

Did you hear that? Free.

The idea of Gotcha Techs

has been to help the community
in ways that we are here

working with the public library.

So, don't think because
you don't have skills currently

that you can't
attain those skills.

Because we also
work with and promote

the library's program,

which is the TechConnect program
here at the library.

It does a lot of training
to help lift your skillset.

So we're going to pause
for a minute.

We've got people
who are working right now

who are not job-ready.

The trend is,
people are getting jobs

based on who you know.

So, one of the things
I want to do is

I want to continue

to add value to people.

It doesn't matter
what kind of jobs you've had,

what kind of experience.

If you're eager to work,
I can work with you.

Hey, you might have
the education,

you might have the experience.

But the question is,
are you going to be

a good fit to work here?

They're looking at
your personality.

And the first five minutes
of your interview

will determine whether
you get the job or not.

Now you need to synchronize

your responses
with your body language.

"Are you a people-person,
Ms. Rodriguez?"

"Yes, I'm a people person."

"Mr. Torres,
why should we hire you?"

"You should hire me
because I have...

I'm very enthusiastic
and I have passion."

That's what we want.

We want your transferable skills

to be transparent,
so people can see that passion.

What are your top three assets?

You need to bring that out
in an interview, okay?

Otherwise, they won't see that.

You know, an interview's like

a cat-and-mouse game, right?

"Tell me about yourself."

"Well, I'm only going
to give you limited stuff."

It's a cat-and-mouse game.

No, you've got to be
brutally transparent.

You want that job?

You've got nothing to lose.

Be transparent, be honest.

Right?

What have you got to lose?

We are in a transformation
of our branches

from the wonderful but passive

repositories and spaces
to education centers.

Repositories and spaces
to education centers.

Right?

That was my commitment
to the board.

The other commitment
I made to the board is...

And we will do this
to the extent

that we can find
the resources to do it,

we will not steal resources

from elsewhere
in the system to do this,

I'm sticking
to those commitments.

The... what I,
the way I read that, it says,

we have to maximize
how much money

we can get or use from the city
to do the middle band,

so the... not just drop-in,
but not as intensive...

Right. Yeah.

And the most intensive band,
even if that means

changing our model
of delivery...

Right.

To fit RFP

and the city's agenda. Yeah.

Right? Yeah.

If we want to do more than that,

it will be dependent

on finding the private resources
to do more than that. Right.

Right? In a sense,

we should set
our educational priorities,

and then let our scale decisions

be guided by the resources
we can find.

And the...
With the first priority being

redirecting and locking in
city resources.

So maybe another way
to look at this is to say,

we need to be sustainable
in these two places.

I'm just trying to say,

where is sustainability
key, right?

Because we can't predict
where the city money

is necessarily going
to go every year, right?

That's very unpredictable.

And so is the
development resources.

So we're financially
unpredictable.

Does that make sense?

So if we want to make sure
you're committed

to some sort of sustainability,

are we saying that that
is in the early literacy,

and this second band, right?

And is this
a wonderful thing to have,

but when you can't afford it,

that's what you get out of it.

Except to the degree
we can shift

to the city's programming...
Right.

To meet this,
because the mayor is committed

to additional after school.
Right.

And if it means... that means

we're doing five-day-a-week

instead of
two-and-a-half-day-a-week,

less kids, the same facilities,

that's a good outcome,
as far as I'm concerned.

The... so...

yes, in general,
I think that's right.

But that doesn't mean
we shouldn't try to continue

to find private funds
to do more, right?

Right, yeah, of course.

But I think it's
really important

that private fundraising
is a reaction

to our priorities and plans,

rather than that
we are given money

that tells us how
to do programming.

So I think that's
the first thing

we all have to agree on...
Right.

Because I think in the past
there has been some, like,

somebody wants to do something
and we're like, "Okay."

You know? No, no, absolutely.

And we are setting
those priorities...

Right here... with the banding.

Right, okay. Yes.

I understand that, right?

The...

- And I think we, if we
can focus on what is,

I mean, we have
the capability to, A,

find donors that are interested

in the things we're doing,

but also turn donors that think

they want to start new programs
and have ideas

away from those ideas... Away.

And into something
that's a more sustainable,

strategic program. Agreed.

But one of the ways we said

that was sustainable is
invest in this,

it will demonstrate to the city
that they should invest now,

and then money flips over,

which is the process
we're in the middle of...

Right. Which also requires

some, some tweaks
of our policy choices,

which is fine
as long as we're still

doing what we want to

and believe the citizens
need us to do.

I mean, the way
I think about this

on a macro scale... Iris, tell me

whether this
is cockamamie or not,

is, since 2008... cut, city cuts,

learned massive efficiencies,
you know, with thanks

to Christopher and everyone
in the branches.

Now the money is moving
towards restoration.

Rather than use those resources
to sort of simply go back

to our previous practices,

some of which we learned
were more inefficient

than they needed to be,
to use that reinvestment

for two purposes.

One, additional time,

that just takes staff,
et cetera, of all kinds.

And, two, additional
educational programming.

Is that... that's my general...

And to the degree
that private money

helps to seed that
and add to that on top,

that's great.

Remember, this is a
public-private partnership.

So we use private money

to try to jumpstart
public money.

Now, let's use public money

to try to up the ante
for private money.

That's how this builds, right?

So, hi everybody,

thanks for coming.

This is my favorite day
of the whole semester,

coming to the
picture collection.

And I'm going to
hand it over to Billy,

who's going to explain

how this particular section
of the library works,

and how we will be working here,
finding our inspiration.

Okay, so, welcome.

This collection opened in 1915

at the main library
across the street,

the Stephen A. Schwarzman
Building,

the one with the lions.

If you think about what
was happening in New York City

at that time, 1915,

so like right at the tail end

of the immigration explosion,

um, and if you think
of how that affects

absolutely everything,

- from businesses to advertising,
- from businesses to advertising,

And artists having new jobs,
or more jobs,

so lots of artists
at that time period,

if you think of the environment
they were working in,

they had lots of things,
new jobs, advertising.

Instead of going
across the street

with very specific needs,
you know,

"I need a picture of this

'cause I have an ad that's...
the deadline's tomorrow."

And we actually have
examples of the things

people were asking for.

We kept journals at that time

to see what
they were asking for,

in case we had it or not.

And some of this stuff
was really, really specific.

Like, "I need a picture
of dolls being carried

into France by an Italian
in the 18th century."

Like, you know, I don't know

what the person was working on.

A lot of the times things
are just simple.

I need a picture of a giraffe,

or a picture of somebody
holding an umbrella.

Sometimes
it's really complicated.

And that library
has millions of pictures.

They've got lots of stuff.

The problem is,
the way it's organized,

it's by creator's name
and title.

So if it's a picture
of a giraffe,

but taken by
a particular photographer,

or you know, it's a printmaking,

you know, an etching
or something,

that's how it's organized.

So if you go in
looking for something

based on a subject,
it's hard to find.

So what they
slowly started doing

is collecting stuff
by subject heading.

So when somebody came in
looking for pictures

of fortune tellers,

or pictures
of people in raincoats,

or pictures of people
seen from behind,

there would just be a folder,

and those things
would be in that folder.

And a hundred years later,
we're still here.

So yeah,
so the past hundred years,

every single working artist
in New York City

probably used this collection.

In the '30s, Diego Rivera,
when he was doing murals,

had a little incident
at Rockefeller Center,

some of you might know about.

And later that year,
he was doing

labor union hall murals
at the New Workers School.

He sent people
to this collection.

Joseph Cornell lived
in Queens on Utopia Parkway.

He used this collection
constantly,

if you've ever seen
his boxes in his collages.

Most of the images
in those boxes

were, like, sourced from
the picture collection.

Andy Warhol stole
lots of stuff from us.

I'll stop a little bit,

I'll let Jay jump in,

and if you have a question,
just ask.

This is the world's largest
circulating free picture file.

And, as he was mentioning,

this is a place
that's meant to be used

by people who make things

and think of ideas
and are artists.

You don't need to wear gloves,

you don't need
to make an appointment,

we don't keep things
in plastic bags,

like baseball cards
or old comic books.

You're encouraged
to use what is here.

So, as an example

of what you see around you
in all these files,

this is a file
called "Dogs in Action."

We have lots of dog files.

There's dogs by breed,
there's just dogs in general.

This is "Dogs in Action."

Look at the range
of pictures there are,

and the different styles.

- There's a person having
fun with a large dog.

A dog that
fetched the newspaper.

Digging.

Leaping and wet.

Somebody trying

to pull a dog's jaws open,

maybe to give it a pill
or something like that.

A pit bull
chewing a ball to pieces

until there isn't
anything left of it.

A dog jumping out of
a bathtub, from an ad.

A dog, again,
flying through the air,

all four feet off the ground.

And, again, tug of war
with a piece of clothing.

So, besides this being a file
of dogs doing stuff,

you saw the different range
of pictures there were.

Photos, drawings, prints,
all different sorts of stuff.

Different moods,
some looked threatening,

some looked silly,
some looked happy.

That's how this
can be useful for you,

because you're
into drama and the stage.

And what we have here
is mostly arranged by topic.

As was mentioned before,

we have pictures
of atomic explosions,

pictures of shoes,
of pickles, of umbrellas,

all different sorts of things.

There are very few pictures
that are by mood or type.

What the librarians here do,

what the person
at the desk does,

if you ask them a question,

they say, "What comes
to your mind

when you think of this?"

If you can tell
the person at the desk

what you're thinking of,

we can tell you the places

to look to composite that.

It's very much
about inspiration,

and about how we translate
that inspiration

into pictures
of specific things.

So what you see around you,
all these files,

each file is one subject
or one thing

or one occurrence
or one happening.

It's basically split
into two halves.

This wall, famous people,
A to Z by last name.

Royalty in the corner.

They have their own
because they're exclusive

and don't want to mingle
with the common people.

And then there's
everything else,

A to Z.

All these things

that we've described.

And the things
that we have here,

the hundred years
is important, too.

Because it's not like
we started a year ago

and just looked
for all these things

and filled up the files.

We have been
clipping the pictures

for a hundred years

as these events were happening.

So there's not only the interest

of actually touching something

that might be 70 years old,

these are advertisements
from that time period.

So you get to see
the typefaces they used,

you get to see how
they could reproduce color,

how they portrayed
women, minorities,

things like that.

You can see the look
of different things

- changing through history
as people's attitudes

And the technology
of reproduction has changed.

So, it really is like
looking back in time.

A lot of the '50s and '60s
stuff here

is from the '50s and '60s.

There's stuff from the 1900s.

I'm going to give
you time to go around

and look for the pictures
for your specific scenes.

And if you want to
share the folder, that's fine,

but have your own pictures.

So, you have
your own inspiration,

your own research.

My grandparents were all
second-generation New York Jews.

They were not immigrants,

they were the children
of immigrants.

And I was very interested
in the journey

that they took, right?

I mean, we talk a lot
about the immigrant journey

from Eastern Europe
to the Lower East Side, right?

But we don't think as much

about what it was like
for their children,

who had the opportunity
to become more American,

and yet they were
still very much

tied to their parents
and to the culture

that they had grown up in

- on the Lower East Side.
- On the Lower East Side.

And so my first book,
I mean, my dissertation

and then my first book,
was about the depiction

of second-generation
New York Jewish life

in vaudeville,

and in silent film,
and in Broadway theater,

and in music, and comic strips,

and comedy.

And then I realized,
after I finished writing that,

there was a whole aspect to it
that I hadn't explored,

which was, where did
all of these scenes

in film and theater
and comedy take place?

Well, they almost all
took place in delis.

There was something
about the deli

as a location
of New York Jewish life

that had never really
been analyzed.

And then I said to myself,

"Well, let me try to figure out,
how many delis were there?"

And where were they located?

And what was their function

in terms of the social
and economic life

of the Jews during that period?

The delicatessen,
and the food that was served

in the delicatessen,
become important

not just for Jews,
but for the identity

of the city as a whole.

I mean, we think about
New York as the Big Apple.

But I don't think most people,

when they come to New York,
start eating apples.

It's not the first thing

that you want to eat
when you come to New York.

Right? People want
to eat a pastrami sandwich.

And, you know what's interesting
about both of those,

and I write about this
in the book, that, again,

they're both symbols
of carnality, right?

They both have
a sexual undertone to them.

I mean, the apple, obviously,

right, from the bible.

And the overstuffed,

or in Yiddish, ongeshtopt,
pastrami sandwich.

There is a kind of very crude

sexual imagery.

This was the time

after the First World War
that Jews are moving

out of the Lower East Side,
they're moving to the Bronx,

they're moving to Brooklyn,

all the places that
we said before, right?

They're moving uptown
to Harlem, which was

a very Jewish neighborhood

in the years between the wars.

And they are beginning
somewhat to move more

into the mainstream
of American society.

It's still a very, very
anti-Semitic culture

that they're living in, right?

1920s is probably
the most anti-Semitic

decade in American history.

You have the rise of the KKK,

you have Henry Ford, you know,

in the pages of the
Dearborn Independent,

who was constantly
fulminating against Jews

and saying that
they're destroying...

You know, he's a follower
of Adolf Hitler.

I mean, really bad
anti-Semitism.

There's a red scare,

which is often associated
with the Jews, right?

But Jews are finding

a niche, at least

in the New York economy,
partly through

their involvement
in the entertainment business,

because Jews are very,
very heavily involved

in entertainment, right?

At a time when it's seen

to be quite disreputable
to be making movies

and to be involved
in the theater,

and so on and so forth.

And they also are
moving very much

into food-related businesses.

And, of course,
they're very involved

in the garment industry, right?

- And they have a sense of popular taste
- And they have a sense of popular taste

And what people want
and what people are...

Are looking for.

So, World War II...

"Send a salami to
your boy in the army."

"Send a salami."
Why are you sending a salami?

This gets back
to this whole theme

that I've been
talking about, right,

of sexuality.

Why are you sending a salami?

There's a reason, right?

I mean, it's this
sort of phallic symbol.

And so, if the whole point
is that you're sending a salami

to give your son
a dose of virility

so that he can defeat the enemy

and return safely to the bosom
of his family, right?

I mean, that's
the whole point of it, right?

I mean, subconsciously, right?

There's a lot of
subconscious symbolism

that I'm trying to suggest
is going on here.

What's happening
after World War II is

Jews are moving out of the city,

they're moving
to the suburbs, right?

And they're no longer
congregating in delis

to the extent that they used to,

because they're not living

in close proximity
to one another

and to the neighborhood deli
anymore, right?

So you have shopping centers,

but how many delis do you need
in a shopping center, right?

Jews are much more part of,
or want to be much more

a part of the fabric
of American society.

So the food doesn't go away,

but where is the food
being sold now

if it's not being sold in delis?

Supermarkets, right?

For that old-fashioned flavor

That all the folks favor

Try Hebrew National Meats

They're a treat, to be sure,
'cause the beef is so pure

In Hebrew National Meats

You'll find corn beef,
and roast beef, salami

Pastrami, and wonderful
frankfurters, too

They are surely delicious

And purely nutritious,
those Hebrew National...

Hebrew National...

My mother sold records

while my father tried
to make his way in jazz.

He had a certain charm,
and he could sing,

and therefore he got a job
with a number of dance bands.

And the year after I was born,

he got a job with
the Joe Loss Orchestra,

which was probably

the most successful
dance band of its day.

Can we hear him singing?

We can hear him singing...

With that, that one moment.

Do you want...
Do you want to see,

so those of you that
watch the television

may have seen him singing...

Yeah, but it's all right,
they can watch it again.

It's so, it's so...
it's so extraordinary.

Well, there's a little
story behind this

particular little clip
we're going to see.

You've got to understand,
the bands of the 1950s

were well-suited to play
the music of the day.

It was Frankie Laine
and Johnnie Ray.

When beat music and
rock 'n' roll came in,

they weren't so suited to it,

so they had to find work

for the saxophone players
and the trombone players.

While the singers
could be quite adaptable,

they were having
to cover records

out of the charts that
were not necessarily

that suitable for this lineup.

And then I suppose
this happened.

ROSS McMANUS: Whoa

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa

Whoa

If I had a hammer

If I had a hammer

McMANUS:
I'd hammer in the morning

Hammer in the morning

I'd hammer in the evening

Hammer in the evening

All over this land

All over this land

I sing about danger

I sing a warning here

I sing about the love between
my brothers and my sisters

All over, all over this land

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa

I've got a hammer

I've got a hammer

And I've got a bell
I've got a bell

And I've got a song
to sing all over this land

All over this land

It's the hammer of justice

It's the hammer of freedom

And to talk
about the love between

My brothers and my sisters
all over, all over this land

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

All over this land

Ooh, all over this land

Ooh, all over this land...

Certainly there is a...

there is a slight family
resemblance.

Only around the eyes,
not around the feet.

Er...

I want to read something
that is actually quite smart.

I think Greil Marcus,
beautifully in an interview,

characterizes this moment
of revenge and guilt.

He says, "Elvis Costello
was someone

"who you'd better not cross.

"He was someone who was,

"as he said
in his first interview...

"and I really do believe
this is the key to his career...

"he said the only emotions
he understood

"were revenge and guilt.

"Whether or not he's recording
with the Brodsky Quartet,

"as he did
on The Juliet Letters,

"or whether he's simply
standing up

"and singing
'Tramp the Dirt Down, '

"which is a song about

"how he wants to dance
on Thatcher's grave,

"I think he has always looked
for the most effective way

to make trouble."

Do you think that's true?

Which part of it?

Any part of it.

Yeah, I think he gives me
way too much credit.

Um, of course, it's...

Professor Marcus, you know,

it's his job to create
a thesis like that.

That's what he does.

He writes very, very long
and intricate books

explaining the connections

- between various political
and cultural movements,

And the vividness of that,
to him, I won't deny,

except that
he's covering a period

of about nearly 30 years,
25 years.

And there was any number
of people in my, to myself...

I know it's very convenient

to put these labels
like punk or new wave

or angry
or, you know, political.

But each song has
a different occasion for me,

and there are different means,

and there are different motives.

And there are, I hope,

different results
if you listen to them.

And on different days,

you can sing them
with different inflections.

I have sung words that are heard
in "Tramp the Dirt Down."

I sang it on the night
the miner strike collapsed

in, in, in sketch form,

and at that time, I would agree

it was probably
pretty aggressive.

And then the tune
that I ended up using

alludes to "Isn't She Lovely."

It alludes
to "Isn't She Lovely,"

Stevie Wonder's melody.

That was a joke.

But there's a joke
carrying a song

with all these brutal
and disappointed images

of what that particular time
let loose in people.

The desire to step
on your fellow countryman

to get ahead.

And I still feel that way.

So I get... I sang the song
up until a few years ago,

and people said, "You can't
sing it now, she's dead."

I think, we especially have
to sing it now that she's dead.

Now is...

Not because, not because,
no, no, she's a human being.

She actually died,
you know, in dementia,

which I literally wouldn't wish
on my worst enemy.

But what she let loose
in the country,

I cannot forgive.

So that's my opinion.

And in a democracy,
I get to say what I feel,

and I get to sing it as well,

just as politicians get
to say it

over and over again
and get paid to do so.

If we want as a society
to take advantage

of all of these great
technological opportunities,

we have an obligation
to, um, help those folks

who are being put
in a worse position

by modern technological change.

I think the city
understands that,

and they're doing
a plethora of activities.

It isn't unified and it isn't
working towards a coherent goal.

Other cities have,
um, created...

- so this is the indicators
from Seattle, um,

Created sort of positive visions

of what, uh...

what an inclusive city
could look like.

If you read those documents,
it becomes very clear

that the library is actually

maybe the most crucial
institution,

because we're a community hub

for people who don't
have home access.

We're a place where people

get exposure who don't
otherwise understand it.

We're a place where people
can learn skills,

where kids can do homework
after schools.

I think there's an opportunity

to bring together the sort
of full scope of people

involved in making sure
the wires are in the ground,

there's affordable internet,
there's community hubs,

there's digital skills,

to develop a series of
indicators on and goals for

what an inclusive
New York City would be,

and that we could...

that could be helmed
by the mayor's office,

but that we could provide
the convening space

and help them unite
a bunch of their activities.

That would rationalize a bunch
of the projects they're doing,

it would give us a way of
continuing to shine the light

on those who are being
left behind,

and, um, and also, you know,

highlight the central role the
library's playing in this space.

Uh, again, it's a thing
that other cities have done

and that New York is actually
just kind of behind on.

And actually people come
to us all the time,

so people talk about us

as an anchor institution
in the community

for digital inclusion,
not just digital access,

but access being, like,
the lowest common denominator.

It's actually
what do people do with it.

Not everybody goes to a WeWork,
but they could go

to their neighborhood
digital incubation center.

They could go...

and, you know,
people talk about it,

not only, certainly
for the people

who don't have computer access,
but also for everybody.

The fact of the matter is that,
you know,

technology is moving at a pace

that we're all going
to have to keep up with,

and it's about
how we think about it.

And so exposure
to all those kinds of tools

but also to a community
of experts.

So it doesn't always have
to be us.

It could be bringing
in a lot of others.

And so the conversations
I've had,

many, many conversations
that Luke clearly has had,

sort of indicate that this is
a great opportunity for us.

What if we convened
everybody in this space

at a giant conference at SASBY

to articulate what along all,
you know, what do we want

in terms of people having fiber
to their buildings,

in terms of community spaces
where they can go online,

in terms of digital skills.

We could, you could
then commission CUFF

or somebody could commission
CUFF to do a research,

a basically baseline data
on where we are as a city

that would highlight
the gaping holes

and where New York
is behind the times.

We could then, six months later,

convene another big meeting
here at the, um, at SASBY

to identify low-hanging fruit
and develop strategies

of which we will certainly
be key players,

because of our, um,
of our assets.

- The, that might give the
mayor something to...

A way of talking about his,
all of his projects.

It would certainly develop us
as a central player.

There's like three different

pieces of narrative that we use
that this stitches together.

One is the most arresting
figure that Tony uses

is, you know, one in three
New Yorkers don't have access

to broadband at home.

Like, that gets
any audience's attention.

The second historic one
that we always love

is, is the Carnegie point,

is that Carnegie sought
to create a library

within walking distance
of every New Yorker.

So this is a way to kind of
embrace that heritage

and say... and I love the way,

just from a two-second look
at what Seattle did,

is to say,
"Okay, neighborhood density,

how many public access spots
are there?"

It's a way to kind of
renew the Carnegie idea

in a digital fashion.

And I think the challenge

would be how do we,
we want to position ourselves

as helpful advocates
yet... for the city, um,

you know,
but a little distance from it.

This isn't a...
it would be a partnership,

but... and it's not,

this wouldn't be the first time
the city wanted

to plant a million trees,

and they did a tree census
before that.

And now, you know, last week
they planted the millionth tree.

For the library,
with CUFF or whatnot,

I think it's a super-brilliant
idea to say,

"Here's what the digital...

"is one in three
a real accurate number?

"How does that go up
and down every year?

Here is what it looks like
neighborhood, region by region."

You know, so, I do think
this is the logical next step

and our bona fides are there
based on everything,

but also on the 10,000 lends
that we will have completed.

I just want us to make sure

that we don't lose sight
of what digital inclusion is,

that it isn't just
about broadband.

And I don't mean
to make that something minor.

It's not, it's huge.

But that is honestly
simply just not enough...

Mm-hmm.
And I don't want this to...

a lot of people are doing
the broadband wagon, sorry.

So it's what's, what more,
like what kind of society...

so I just want us to be...

There's the quantitative story
and there's a qualitative story.

Well, there's a skill,

there's a "How do you function
in society?"

I just want us to be aware
of that, yeah.

Okay, we're coming to that.

And then it's changing, right,

so the free computer
you get somebody in 2015

isn't going to be relevant
in 2020.

The bandwidth we secure
for them now

will be outdated
as the internet changes.

And the skills
that you learn today

won't, um, uh, be sufficient
in a couple of years,

which is why the role
of a library will,

if we want to be in the space,

will be continually important,

because there will be
a different set of people

continually left behind.

So it's not that broadband
isn't crucial

or this wasn't a good attempt.

It's just that it's a...

if we can widen the focus

and set the end goal
on engaged internet users,

we'll see there's
a lot of different ways

that we can make a difference

and are already making
a difference as a system.

Look, this project succeeded
because it got us to this point.

It was awesome, right?

Agreed, agreed.

Yes.

Hi, everyone.

Welcome to Books at Noon.

Today I'm pleased to introduce
Yusef Komunyakaa.

I wanted to ask you

if you see yourself
as a political poet?

Do I see myself
as a political poet?

- Um...
- I mean you use, I mean,

there have been, you know,

you used your experience
in Vietnam

to talk about, you know,

and you've used issues
of race in poetry,

so I'm wondering if you,

as far as sort of
the spectrum of poetry,

if you see yourself
as a political poet?

Well, I think language
is political,

and that,
that's what I use as a tool.

I think it was, um,
Richard Wright who said

that he wanted
to write sentences,

language that functioned
as a club.

I don't necessarily
believe that.

For me, I don't think
the surface,

the surface of the poem,

the politics are not
on the surface of the poem,

but I think
since I use language,

the politics are underneath,

woven into
the emotional architecture

of the poem.

Has that always been
part of your style,

to weave in what's going on?

I mean, it's part
of your language,

it's part of who you are
as a poet.

I go back to Baldwin,

and James Baldwin said that

we have to know
what's happening around us

in order to know
what's happening to us

because we're a part
of everything around us.

And I think perhaps the poet

is cursed to be a keen observer.

Observer.

And there is a kind of innuendo,

and also it's part
of an extended possibility.

What I mean by that is that

if we are in the rhythm
of the poem,

we are in the emotional
architecture of a poem,

and language says things
that are direct

but also insinuation,

the same as
a blues singer would.

I think that's what it is.

It really takes me back

to the essence of the blues,

insinuation, daring.

You mean to allow silence?

Simplicity say that also
in a way morphs

into a more complex
emotional place.

Got your library card?

Yeah.

Okay, so you want
to take these pictures

and save it in here?
Uh-huh, but...

Not all the one.

This... This here is on
the memory card here.

Yes. You want to transfer
it to here, correct?

But, but I want first to save.

Well, this is why you have
to hold on "Control," you see?

I'm going to show you example.

So once that gets to 100%,

then call me back over,
and we can take a look.

100% to finish it?

Yeah, 100% is
finished downloading,

and then we do installing.

Go back to "Home."

Huh?

Home. Home?

Home, yeah, this, yeah.

This year's supply,
I'd say about 22.

Now, have you worked
with the book,

the regular-sized braille yet?

So we're going to start
on this first...

this first page that
has A through E on it.

So go ahead
and check out the page.

Are you lefty or righty?

Um, righty.

You're right-handed? Mm-hmm.

Okay, it's good to hold,
to keep it...

Straight? ...straight though.

Uh-huh.
Most people that read braille

end up reading with
a combination of both hands.

Okay.

So your right hand
will be your leader,

- but sometimes your left hand will
kind of keep your place. Okay.

That's okay to check out
with both hands, if you want.

E?

Hmm.. No, that's the D.

Before you try to comprehend,

just practice moving your hand
in a straight line

and following.

This is how
a braille-reading hand moves.

So these lines
that are kind of together,

these little kinds of
almost railroad tracks,

are there to help you kind of
pattern and figure out

how to move in a fluid,
straight, smooth way.

A lot of people will read
with a couple of fingers.

I noticed that you for right now

are mostly reading
with your middle finger,

and you want to make sure that
this finger gets in there, too,

because your forefinger
has a lot of sensitivity,

and a lot of people read
with their forefinger

and then middle finger
kind of together.

Okay.

When your one hand finds the
next line for the other hand

is called tracking.

X, X, X, X.

Z, Z, Z, Z.

Now make sure that you...

Do like this or with your hand,

wherever you can, okay?

C... okay, and... what?

Okay, and...

You've got "Why not."

So N is the end.

One position is different.

You know, one is horizontal
and other one vertical.

- You got it?
- Yeah, I'm writing...

And now I'm going
to do the other one.

I have some statistics here

on how many people
with disabilities there are.

This is according

to the 2014 U.S. Census.

There are roughly

eight million people
uh, in New York City in general,

and about 900,000
of those people

are people with disabilities.

So that's about 11%.

I'm the housing coordinator,
and I do answer

a lot of 311 calls

regarding housing
for people with disabilities.

For low-income housing,

there is the New York City
Housing Authority,

which is known to have
a very long waiting list.

Fortunately, that is not
the only option.

There are other options.

There are a few different
vouchers available.

One is the Medicaid
Waiver Program,

and that's for people
with physical disabilities,

and it does include
things like home care

and Meals on Wheels

and subsidized housing.

If you have a voucher
that covers $1,100,

and you go find an apartment,

and the apartment
is within that range, right?

It's $1,000
or $1,100 rent a month,

uh, that means that
you meet the criteria,

you meet the income requirement
for that apartment,

- and if the landlord tells
you, "We don't take vouchers,"

That's considered
discrimination.

And if that, you know,
if that does happen,

there is an agency
that can help you out with that.

That's called
the City Commission

on Human Rights.

It's always good to know
your rights.

Another housing opportunity
is the housing lotteries

or affordable housing.

There is a difference
between affordable housing

and low-income housing.

Most people don't realize that.

So affordable housing is for,
you know,

it includes low income,

but it also includes, you know,

middle class
and working families as well.

Another agency
that we do work with,

Housing Preservation
and Development.

Basically they are working
with developers

who are building new buildings

or reconstructing
existing buildings,

and each building
has its own lottery.

So each building
will have its own application,

and in each lottery,

five percent of the apartments
are set aside

for people
with mobility disabilities,

and two percent are set aside

for people with visual
and hearing disabilities.

Finding stable housing
is pretty hard to do,

especially in the affordable
and low-income markets.

Oh, yeah, let's do it.

In 2014 we launched an
extensive strategic plan,

but most importantly,
we began to fill the basket

about what we were going
to put here,

the Mid-Manhattan Library

as well as
in the Schwarzman Building.

We engaged, um, in a very public
engagement campaign

around our plans.

These were just concepts
that we had come up with.

We had public meetings,

we had numerous
media opportunities,

um, thanks to Ken and his staff.

We met with stakeholders,
we met with our board,

we met with anybody
who would listen to us.

The goals, then,

were really to keep our
constituents informed,

which I think we did;

to ensure that we got
important feedback

as to which should go where

and what should go
in what buildings,

and what programs and projects
that we should really focus on.

And, lastly, the thing that
I am the most proud about is...

And I think everybody
in this room

or anybody affiliated with the
library should be proud about...

Is that we were
maintaining transparency

during this process.

Um, we were communicating
as best we could;

whatever we knew,
we were letting people know.

Now in October,
it's actually November,

we started a new phase
of this campaign.

And, um, it's to introduce the
really spectacular architects

that we spent months, um,
trying to get to this point

that we spent months, um,
trying to get to this point

and to pick a team like this

to work on this iconic project
for New York City.

Um, and in this next round,

there will be an enormous amount
again of public engagement,

and we'll include even more
substantive conversations.

And as Tony noted,

um, most importantly it's
to start the conversation here,

with our staff
and here at the library.

So, um, let me just explain
how we got to this point

with these two wonderful
architecture firms.

Um, I think as everybody knows,

we went through an RFQ
and an RFP process,

and working
with a working group,

which included members
of the board of directors

as well as senior staff
here at the library,

um, we arrived
at, um, uh, two semi-finalists

and ended up with
one finalist group.

Francine, you, having worked

in libraries all over the world,

maybe you can give us a sense

of what you think the futures
of libraries are going to be,

both in the physical sense

and in the sense of libraries
as institutions.

First of all, for me,

the

library does not exist.

Every library, it's my
experience, is different.

It's totally different

if you're thinking

of a circulating library
in the Netherlands.

There's even already
a difference

between if you make one
in Amsterdam and in Rotterdam,

there's even a bigger difference
if you make one in Scandinavia

or we also worked
on the library in Athens.

For instance, in Europe,

the northern part of Europe
is more books

and the southern part of Europe
is almost no books.

Um...

One maybe very important thing...

I'm just now improvising...

That for me libraries
are not about books,

it's a lot of people think that
it's a storage space for books.

No, libraries are about people

who want to get knowledge
to them,

and that can be done by books,

it can be done
by many other ways.

It's very much about learning,

it's about long-life learning,

it's about the whole generation.

And so libraries are,
they're not only...

there are cultural importance,

but they also very much
economically important.

It has... here it's
a little bit different,

but, like, in Europe,
it's always public money,

and it's public money that you
invest in your own population.

Uh, so it's very much important

that you give it back
to the public.

And, um, yeah, what else?

I guess I could give a whole
lecture about libraries.

Um, I think what is
maybe also important,

that as a library,

reflects what is necessary
in that city...

It's a research library,
it's also an archive.

- It's a city archive, it's
the circulating library.

I'm dreaming of, especially
if I think of this building,

about many different
atmospheres,

of different ways of studying,

of different, very important,
uh...

maybe when I did design
the... the...

famous library we did in Delft,

that's where our office
is based.

It's in a library for the
technical university in Delft,

and that was opened in 1995.

And we, when we did the design
in 1991,

they already told me, "Francine,

you don't need libraries anymore
in the future."

And that's in a way still a kind
of opinion we hear a lot.

Do you hear it a lot?

It's totally because people,
they still think of libraries

about a storage space of books,

or people think of the library
when they were a kid.

A lot of people
have no awareness

what is happening
in the nowadays libraries

and how necessary they are.

What else, do you want?

Maybe I should just stop.

Okay.

But I have a lot of ideas
about libraries.

Okay.

What will the catalog...

That will probably be the center
of the catalog...

We've got lovely essays...

We've got some... in there.

Plus, we only got halfway...

That needs to be,
like, life-sized.

Really?

I almost wanted to be...

It's okay, you got...?

No problem.

All right...

Reminds me of a couple of
paintings that was done

back in orientalism.

I don't know if you know what
that is, orientalism?

Yes.

Eh... in chapter one

of Alice's Adventures

in Wonderland, um,

she is being recited a story
by her elder sister, right?

Um...

And it's boring.

She, she doesn't like the story,

and, and this is this thing
that encourages her

and, and this is this thing
that encourages her

and sets off this whole journey
into, into fantasy,

and I found it so interesting,
thinking about that

and realizing kind of
what my, my journey has been,

um, which is essentially
the opposite of that.

It's trying to take stories
and make them not boring.

Um, it's trying to take
traditional literature

and traditional, like,
like, ideas of what it means

to be intellectual
and academic and educated...

and how it was
the actual boredom

that pushed Alice into this
new world of chasing fantasy.

I feel so similar to that
so, so frequently.

I, I read these things,

and I see all these brilliant,
brilliant people in this world

who are, are... feel the need
to package their ideas

and their intellect

and, in this stringent
and traditional way,

because that's the way
that we're used to digesting it.

So I hope that one of the things

that you take from this program

is that intellect and academia

and literature
does not have to be highbrow.

It does not have to be elitist.

Um, it can develop
in a organic and genuine way.

So I'm going
to read this last piece, um.

"When this man enters a room

"He wishes to keep his chin up

"To carry with him
a continental smile

"And a heart

"A heart that lifts the floor
like a splintering brass chorus

"Of drums and saxophones,
Questlove and Coltrane

"marching to Gettysburg
at my feet

"With shotgun improvs
that grow into rock steady

"Playing like a humble bass line
for the beautiful,

"the gorgeous shootouts
that ring out

"throughout old Chicago
jazz clubs

"and smoky New Orleans hallways.

"He is a man.

"He is a man because he claims
he's claimed his identity

"Yet still walks
with the melancholy whisper

"Of everything mama
couldn't teach him,

"Preacher couldn't preach to him

"On Fridays when the bar ends,
the clouds unclench their fists,

"I walk home, empty pack of
Marlboros in my back pocket.

"Girl I don't know so well,
under my left arm

"Laughing too damn loudly.

"I sit under a poster of Hendrix
with Mona Lisa-like eyes

"that follow me wherever I go

"And I wonder what is in a man.

"It wasn't always
like that, though.

"Before the intrigue of standing
tall swallowed my skin

- "Every boy had a smiling
father to dribble him

"Every watch could stop
if you please

"Every set of five fingers
had a warm twin that fit

"But since then, I spent too
many Sundays with the sun

"And girls just looking for

"Thought I had a good one once

"But now all I do
is write black love poems

"The only thing she hates
more than me are mirrors

"The only thing I hate more
than love is not being in it

"Call it crystal eyed
or young of me to say

"But some days
I wake up wondering

"Where have all
the trumpets gone?

"What makes a man, and what have
they done with Motown's tongue?

"When did the sound
of my own breath

"Become not enough music
to get me through the night

"And why, why can't we let
ourselves go in the nighttime

"Without it up in the morning,

"In the morning.

"In the morning, wake me up

"Like we died in each others'
arms 12 hours prior

"And had been planning to do so
on breath cue

"From the first time my lips
cuddled your forehead

"I know.

"I know my carpet may not taste
as sweet as the golden gates

"But you slept here last night

"And somewhere between the
Bankers Club and the eight ball

"from yesterday, I was reminded
that a broken heart bleeds red

"So now my past, my insides got
you looking like a fresh murder

"Can I be a man
and clean that up for you?

"Could you,
could you love me just as hard

"if I'd rather talk some out?

"If, if I'd rather,

"If I'd rather picket fence
my tongue quiet and slow

"like a stream across the whole
navy Van Gogh of your body

"Cheek to back in a curve
of your thigh and I disappear

"And there's no more before,
no more after,

"Just a screaming white light

"Rattling the inside
of your skull

"Like a drug-addicted prisoner
and a man, a man,

"I swear to God, I'm a man

"standing tall,

"Looking down over his work

Like a lost diamond."

Thank you so much.

The way that my staff can help,

in addition
to providing direct help,

the government
and community affairs office,

we can also provide,
you know, guidance, possibly.

You know, as you're navigating
through government,

many of you
may not have done that

as intimately
as you're doing it now.

You may have a question about

you know, an agency

or who these other agencies
are interacting with,

or perhaps, you know,
the mayor's agenda

or the speaker's agenda
or the governor's agenda,

or things that are helping you

to navigate through the agencies
at the federal level.

- So we can help with all of that.
- So we can help with all of that.

So I thought it would be good...

The other thing
we'll be doing is,

I will, I or a member of my team

will be joining your biweeklies

Yep... just to hear from you

what's happening,

and if there are any,
you know, new initiatives

that we should be aware of

or if there are
any ongoing initiatives,

just for you to give us updates
on those as well.

We've got to make sure that

we're bringing
our Government Affairs with us

so that they understand
where we might be able

to plug into those government
relationships, right?

So we need to do both.

Off the top of my head,

Christopher mentioned
our meeting this week

with the Department of Health.

As you all know,

the First Lady's
mental health initiative.

We're trying to see
how we can help them

move that agenda along.

There are a lot of ways that
we can provide help to the city.

A, you know,
we have infrastructure

in every neighborhood
in the city,

so we can provide space
for them to conduct meetings.

We can also help them
get the word out

on some of these initiatives

and possibly
our programming can align

with what they're trying
to achieve as well.

Minority women-owned businesses.

We're working with the city
on this as well,

to track, to do a better job

of tracking, um, you know,
who we partner with,

who we do business with.

So that's happening right now.

IDNYC is ongoing, as we know.

The city is so happy
with our participation

under the IDNYC programming,

they've asked us
to provide pop-up sites,

so some of you are involved
with that as well.

Christopher knows
about this as well.

Uh, the mayor's
Office of Immigrant Affairs,

I mean, New Americans Corners.

We set those up last those up
last year in all the branches

and the city is thinking
about ways

that they can improve
on those services

to the immigrant population

and one of the ways that they're
looking to do that right now

is to possibly provide
legal services

in public spaces in the city,
including libraries.

So we're in conversations

with the city on that as well.

Libraries have always been
this adjunct...

Right. to the education system

in the city.

There are 127 city agencies.

I'm sure if we were
to go through a list,

we probably do business
with 30 or 40 of them.

We are the greatest example of
a public-private partnership

and on that public side, I mean,

we interact deeply
on a daily basis,

and it really is, uh,
it's a good idea for us

to track that as best we can.

Mr. García Márquez
is mostly remembered

in terms of magical realism,

being the style
that he worked in.

You know, the idea of magic
being a part of everyday life,

extraordinary things happen,
magical things happen,

spellbinding things happening.

A big part of his work.

Several people have said that
Love in the Time of Cholera

is like the American Huckleberry Finn.

Everybody knows it.

Everybody can quote it.

People, you know, it's
the book everybody reads there.

Um, so...

So what do we think of him?

I did think, as I read it,

it would have been better
titled,

Lovemaking in the Time of Cholera,

because I got a little bored

with all the in and outs
of all the bed.

I find the beginning lines
and beginning pages,

I can tell whether I can get
into a book in a couple days.

I mean, it's not like,
"Call me Ishmael,"

which is very striking,

but this one is,
"It was inevitable:

"the scent of bitter almonds
always reminded him

of the fate of unrequited love."

And the theme of almonds and
bitter almonds come through.

And this is a story
of unrequited love.

That was only at the end
gets fulfilled

under the guise of being
a boat with cholera, you know.

And so I think he's saying,
in a way,

that passion is a sickness.

The explanation for Florentino

was exactly what you said,
unrequited love.

That kicked off the rest
of his life.

It affected him
for the rest of his life,

but he really loved Fermina.

Yes, he screwed all these women

in both figurative
and literal sense,

but he loved Fermina,

and he would have done
anything for her,

and I think this is proven
throughout the book.

Also, he was devastated

by what happened
to América Vicuña.

- Right.
- As we all were,

he was devastated by that.

He kept on thinking about it.

He went into the stateroom

on that final voyage
down the Magdalena,

and he cried
until there were no tears left.

He was a human being,

and that's what I think
was so good about this book.

It was surreal in many respects,
magical realism,

but yet there's tremendous,

in-depth knowledge
of human nature,

both good and bad, in this book.

I felt it so perceptive about
what it means to be married,

what it means
on your wedding night,

what it means to be a widow,
what it means to get old.

I mean, I was personally
affected

by the fact that the whole
second part of the book was,

"What does it mean
to be in your 70s now?"

And yet, he keeps on injecting
these surreal elements.

So I think both characters
were very sympathetic.

They were real.

It was his imagination
of Fermina that he loved.

He didn't know her.

He only knew
what he thought she was,

and of course we've all had
relationships

where the person,
the other person,

thinks we're something
we're not.

And, I mean,

it takes a while for you
to finally say, "Look,

I'm not who you think I am,"
you know?

It's the...
and I think he had all...

it was his imagination
that sustained him,

not the real person.

Not the real person.

But I do think love,
you know, what is love?

It's very hard to figure it out.

He was in love with love,

or his fantasy of her, his,
you know, what did you call him?

His imagination of her,
about her

was not the real her,

and, um, and that's
what kept him going.

That and his constant
promiscuous affairs, affairs,

is what kept him going.

Uh, so he was living
in the world of illusion.

What is love, after all?

I think that's one of the themes
of the book,

is that love is really
an illusion,

and the way that Florentino
loves Fermina

is no different than, say,

the way that Romeo falls in love
with Juliet,

and it's based simply
on a gut reaction in adolescence

and based on very little else.

The pursuit of love,

it's just a means to delay

and avoid the aging process

and ultimately to avoid death,
if you can,

as long as you can.

Both the city
and the library tend

to view a lot of patron-facing
digital efforts as separate.

So there's the ITG consideration

of how much bandwidth
we provide for Wi-Fi.

There's innovation labs.

There's TechConnect,
there's the hotspots.

On the city side,

there's the Lincoln YC
pay phones projects.

There's coding in the schools.

There's a NYCHA hotspot.

These are all you know,
components of a larger strategy

around an inclusive
digital city.

If you tell that richer story,

it, um, it's more powerful,
because you see the connections,

and, frankly,
from a library perspective,

it reveals just
how integral we are

to the digital life of the city,

in a way that
if you just take it one on one,

we're sort of less relevant.

And so that's the other goal
of this.

Can we help the city understand
the richness

of these issues,

so they can understand
the richness of our solution?

Should we have personas
for, like,

think of different types
of users.

Yes.

What does an older adult
need to know

in order to be able

to communicate
with their family,

to not feel isolated,
to stay in touch with the news?

What does a student
need to know?

What does a,
right, um... in, in,

some of that conceptual work
actually doesn't exist

in the larger
digital literacy space,

but is exactly
the input necessary

for us to then say, "Okay.

"If that's
where people need to go,

"where are we best equipped
to help take them

"and how can we partner

"with the other institutions
around the city

"to sort of collectively have

a digitally rich environment?"

I have to say, though,

I think of all the programs,

I am the most proud
of what we're doing today,

because I think the mission
of the library

and the mission of our guests
resonate so beautifully.

We want to share the arts
with all people,

and this city,
which is so amazing,

with incredible theater
and incredible theater-makers,

these guests are part
of the reason why

deaf audiences are able
to experience that.

Interpreters at theater

are the red carpet
for deaf audiences

to have access to what's
being performed onstage.

Um, we are not performers,

yet in order
for an audience that is deaf

to enjoy and cry and laugh

with everybody else
in the theater,

they need to understand
what's happening onstage,

and they need to understand
the emotional life

of the actors
and the characters,

the choices that actors
are making,

and the, um...

that whole framework
of the play.

So we do study the actors.

I do study their mannerisms.

I do think about the way
a show is directed and staged.

I do think about text.

All those pieces come together

to present a red carpet
to the deaf audience

and say, "Hey,

this is the show that
everybody's enjoying."

And I'm looking at how...

how the context
is giving meaning.

I'm looking at
what the intent of the person is

that's hearing, that's speaking
to the deaf person.

I'm trying to pull out
and parse out all of that

so I can create
a real communication

between these two worlds

that are...
come with different cultures,

- different backgrounds,
different world understanding.

Sign language is more than just
how your hands move.

It's this whole
three-dimensional space

in front of you.

So it does include our face.

That's where grammar
will show up a lot of times

as well as, um...

affect, mood.

So it has a dual purpose.

So I think that we try
to explore that with every play.

What's the feeling
in every play?

What's the mood?

What are the characters doing,
yeah.

One thing that the library has

that's kind of cool is we have

the fair copy of the Declaration
of Independence

that Thomas Jefferson wrote
as a draft

before the final draft went
to the Continental Congress.

And, um, the big difference is
there's a section that,

where he's quite negative
about slavery,

and that was taken out

to win the support of delegates
from some southern colonies.

Um, we were wondering just,

since everyone's
relatively familiar

with the Declaration
of Independence,

we were thinking we could get
two volunteers

to read just a few lines,

uh, trying to capture
a different mood,

a different emotion.

Um, one, sort of angry
and defiant

and then another one kind of
more inspired and uplifting.

No, pleading. Pleading, okay.

Pleading the king
to allow you to do this.

Yeah.

So do we have any volunteers?

Somebody want to give it a try?

Okay. And this lady also.

Oh, terrific.

So is any... are either of you

feeling particularly angry
or particularly pleading?

Her choice.

Why don't you try angry,

and you can use my microphone,

and Candice will be
your interpreter.

Right, so you can
stand right there,

and I'll stand next to you.

So hopefully this will show you

a little bit of the difference

in how an interpretation
might look.

So very angry.

Not super fast.

Okay.

"We hold these truths
to be self-evident,

"all men are created equal,

"that they are endowed
by their Creator

"with certain
unalienable rights,

"that among these
are life, liberty,

"and the pursuit of happiness.

"And that to secure
these rights,

"governments are instituted
among men,

"deriving their just powers

"from the consent
of the governed.

"That whenever any form
of government

"becomes destructive
of these ends,

"it is the right of the people
to alter or abolish it,

"to institute a new government,

"laying its foundation
on such principles

"and organizing its powers
in such form,

"as to them shall seem
most likely

to effect their safety
and happiness."

You were angry.

Pleading?

Yeah, pleading.

Pleading, you may have
gotten the easier one.

You're begging... Are you ready?

You're begging the king
to allow us to do this.

You're begging the king
to allow us to do this.

"We hold these truths
to be self-evident,

"that all men are created equal,

"that they are endowed
by the creator

"with certain
unalienable rights,

"that among these
are life, liberty,

"and the pursuit of happiness.

"That to secure these rights,

"governments are instituted
among men,

"deriving their just powers

"from the consent
of the governed.

"That whenever any form
of government

"becomes destructive
of these ends,

"it is the right of the people
to alter or abolish it,

"and to institute
a new government,

"laying its foundation
on such principles

"and organizing its powers
in such form,

"as to them
shall seem most likely

to effect their safety
and happiness."

Little prep next time for me.

That was fantastic.

We have such talented audiences

at the Library
for the Performing Arts.

We do. Thank you so much.

Leroy...

Have you seen who got 30?

Have you seen who got 30?

But teens are more independent,

and they have a hard time

asking for help.

Most of the times,
a lot of teens,

they think they know it all.

We all did at one time.

So it's kinda...

So my best way of getting
in touch with them

is kind of let them know,
"Oh, listen.

"So what are you doing?

"I'm so bad at math.

"What do you recommend
for me to do?

What do you do to work
on your math skills?"

And then they'll tell me,
"Oh, Rick,

"all you need to do is do this,

and they have books in there."

I'm like, "Oh I know we do,
but do you use them?"

And they're like,
"Oh, yeah, Ricky.

You could go to this website
too..."

So I kind of feel what they need
and what they know

and then I build from there.

Um, it's a little bit hard
when it comes to,

getting them to come for,

like, if we do
a teen math program here,

a lot of times,
if we tell the teens,

they won't come in.

So it's different ways
and techniques.

So it will be great for us too.

This is what we have to work,
and that we're with the schools.

So the schools could work
something with the parents,

and then their parents
bring the teens in.

Because they'll come in
for a great Wii game or Xbox.

They'll come in on their own
for that, no problem.

- Recreational.
- Recreational.

But when it comes
to something educational,

it's a little bit hard,
which is understandable,

because they're doing school
seven hours a day.

Yeah, they're exhausted.

They're exhausted
when they come here.

This is why I think it's
very important for the libraries

to give the teens
their own space

and their time in each branch,

because it's important
for the teens

to come in and feel
like they belong somewhere.

And it's not a school.

When they come to our programs,
I don't want them to feel

like they have
to sit there straight

and just do math work.

No, I want you to feel
like this is the place

for you to come
with your friends...

- Relax.
- Yes.

And talk about math,

you can learn from each other,

respect each other
is the main thing that I want.

Respect each other,
but also learn from each other,

and how can you help each other?

And with the teens,
a great way to do that too

is get them, a bunch of teens
in one room together

and have them kind of let us
know what they need,

not us kind of telling them,
"Oh, this is what you do."

It's kind of like,
"How will you help him?

How would she help him?"

All that kind of stuff,
and it works.

We have, as you know,

a great way of studying how
the children and teen readers,

their reading patterns,

in terms of what
is being borrowed,

through a tool
called Collection HQ,

and I noticed
for the September statistics

for Parkchester's children
and teens,

there was a lot of focus
on math.

- Right.
- It seemed to be a point...

"How's your math going?"

where... right.

Not good.

As far as, of the top ten
circulating children,

non-fiction titles
for Parkchester,

there were at least four
or five books

on fractions being requested.
Correct.

And what will be interesting
for all of us to see

is system-wide, is that also
a pattern of use, right?

Yeah.

Um, Ashante,
you've been working a lot

with, um, through the
MyLibraryNYC program,

and I'm just curious,
does this seem to be the...

is... does there seem
to be a true pattern

of certain topics being covered

at various points in the year
by children and teens?

Um, parents are really
challenged by the new math,

Um, parents are really
challenged by the new math,

- with the Common Core math.
- Yes, Common Core.

So they're used to doing
the math, working from...

working from the top down,

and now they're going
from left to right.

Right.

So parents are looking
for books on math,

kids are looking
for books for math,

and we're seeing that,
with the teacher's sets,

that math teachers are looking
for teacher sets

using the MyLibraryNYC
teacher sets,

and... it is,
it is a true trend.

So I'm glad you guys noticed it.

There's this huge increase

in circulation of teacher sets
and items,

and so I'm wondering, are they
mostly math teacher sets or...?

Well, the highest...

the highest-circulating
teacher set

is the baby animals.

Because who doesn't
love baby animals?

That is the highest-circulating.

But math is following
right behind it.

And that's new, right?

Yeah, that's new. That's new.

We've tripled our,

we've over tripled
our teacher sets.

Yeah, I was reading
this last night.

I thought, "That's incredible."

Yeah, we're very proud.
Really incredible.

We need to look at it
holistically.

You know, how we can partner
with the programming team

to ensure that
there are resources

and, you know, there are
connections made

between Programming
and Collections,

and also how we can broaden
our reach

by working with volunteers
and staff.

There is a,
an urgency around this.

We cannot fail.

I mean if parents are coming,
pleading to you...

Yeah, yeah.

I can see in their eyes
their need,

they want their kids
to be successful.

Yeah, exactly.

Their whole family depends
on this generation.

The library cannot fail.

Yeah.

If you actually had
a non-floating collection

in specific areas

that you know
your neighborhood really needs...

Like, math sounds like
it's more than Parkchester,

but it's obviously here...

And you had a four-
or five-day series

for parents and kids

to come and learn
to do math together,

there might be
a real opportunity

to bring the community together
in here too.

So you could have something
like the Programs in a Box.

You could have this...

I mean, the cornerstone
of all of this

is you
and the collection, right,

and having that partnership
with the teachers.

Then you can build around it,

but we do have the means
to build around it, right?

We have the Programs in a Box,

which we're all committed to.

We also have the ability
to bring in community tutors.

There's a lot of potential there

that we can weave together.

Let's not lose sight of that,

and, actually, let's not
give that up right now,

just because we're having
this conversation.

Let's figure out
how we help make that happen.

Here you go.

Check in?

Or check out?

How old are you?

You're 12?

So you have a student ID?

Uh, do you have any form of ID?

Do you have something
with your name on it

and your school name on it,

like a schedule or a report card

or a progress report?

Okay, so I need you to bring me
one of those things,

and if you don't have
any of those things,

then you need to come
with a parent or guardian, okay?

So go get it? Huh?

Do I have to go get it?

If you have it, yeah.

- Hey, can I take out - Atlanta?

Yeah.

Um, this one's actually
reserved,

but, um... let me see.

Since we're toward the tail
of the NYPL HotSpot program,

the devices generally
were going out for a year.

That has changed.

Lending periods may be shorter
than a year.

When we check the devices out
upstairs,

the due date that it gives you

is the due date
that it's going to provide.

They're not renewable
at this point.

You're going to get

six gigabytes per month
at 4G speed.

Now once you bypass that,
it will still work,

but if you're doing something
like streaming,

watching Netflix,

it's going to operate slower.

And keep in mind,

and I tell this
to a lot of people,

because I've been doing this
for the past couple of months,

be very careful who you let

use the hotspot device.

You can connect
up to nine devices at once,

but you have to keep in mind

the other people who
may be using the connection

may also be using the data
that's already allocated.

So if they're streaming
and you're streaming,

they're eating up data
that you're using.

These can only be checked out

on fine-free
adult library cards.

Kids cards cannot be used
for this.

Cards for teens cannot be used
for this.

And if anyone has any money
on their library card now,

you will be asked
to make a payment

and clear the balance completely
once we go upstairs.

If you can't do that,

then we cannot
check out the device.

Please have
your library cards ready,

and we will proceed
to the first floor for checkout.

I've only ever read
the first one,

which is The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz.

That's what the movie's
based on,

it's based on that book.

But that's just the first one.

And then there's

Th e Marvelous Land of Oz,

Ozma of Oz,

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz,

- The Road to Oz,
- Th   e Emerald City of Oz,

The Patchwork Girl.

Like, and then it starts talking

about specific characters.
Uh-huh.

Um...

Yeah, The Scarecrow of Oz.

- Yeah, that's a whole series.
- Yeah, that's a whole series.

But I can put Glenda
on hold for you.

Do you want me to do that?

Yes, please.

Okay.

This is for November 27, 2016.

Okay.

Okay, we keep the survey here.

And you are good to go.
Congratulations.

Thank you. Have a good day.

You too, have a good one.

Next in line step down.

Sure.

Okay, yes.

Celebrate good times, come on

Let's have some solos.

Tina.

Go, yes.

Celebrate good times, come on

Little solo.

There's a party goin' on
right here

Cheer her on.

Tina.

Celebration

Fabulous.

Go Amina.

Amina.

And your laughter too

We're gonna celebrate
your party with you

Go Amina.

Fabulous, go Amina.

Let's close it in a little.

Close it, close.

Let's all celebrate
and have a good time

Good.

Go Bodie.

Celebration Fabulous.

Go Bodie.

We're gonna celebrate
and have a good time

It's time to come together

It's up to you...
Let's have Millie and Liz.

Millie and Liz join.

Millie.

Come in Liz.

You'll find her.

Nice, nice.

I love the movement
of Liz's legs.

Did you see that?

Look at Millie's
stretched out legs.

Let's go easy.

Let's go.

Margalit.

Come on, take center.

That's right.

Just have to enter in
the information

and then try it out
and see what happens.

Right here...

Hey, hey. Julius,

if you're holding on to the
robots to stop it from moving,

then that means you need
to change something

on the computer.

This number?

Click the green "Run" button.

It was... ah!

I'll just click...

Um...

See how this is kind of moving?

See how this is kind of moving?

Can you think of a way

that maybe you could make it
more stable?

Five, four, three, two...

Oh, oh, oh!

Oh, oh!

So how many coding blocks
did I have?

Five. That's right.

Now, do you have to make yours
exactly the same as mine?

You don't.

But just remember that
for each action

that you want this robot to do,

you have to add
another coding block.

So you keep experimenting

until it works the way
that you want it.

Please don't twist

Oh, I told you.

Please don't twist.

Oh, oh!

Anyway, it still
didn't go over...

I mean, that's good, though.

That's good.

Yeah. Noah.

Yeah.

You did best.

Yeah, I did something.
That's so cool.

Is it perfect?

- Yes.
- Okay.

Welcome, everyone,
to the celebration

of the 90th anniversary
of the Schomburg Center.

It really is wonderful to have
you all here this evening.

Thank you.

Thank you to the Schomburg.

Thank you for all the amazing
work we all do together

as New Yorkers,
as lovers of the library,

as all of us aspire to a world

of continued creativity
and inspiration

drawn from the Schomburg
and all of the collections

and work of the library.

Leading that effort
at the Schomburg

is our amazing director,
Khalil Gibran Muhammad.

And there he is.

And he'll tell us more
about the important work

being carried out
at the Schomburg

and the great history
of the Schomburg

as we celebrate
the 90th anniversary.

Over to you, Khalil.

Thank you.

I've work with and met
some spectacular people

over the past several years.

People who are talented,
creative, and passionate

about the Schomburg.

People whose words make
the world kinder and gentler.

What I took for granted
is the importance

and significance of
the public value of what we do.

Of what our curators,
archivists, librarians,

educators, and all the staff do,

of what our supporters
and donors do.

We do mind building,
soul affirming,

We do mind building,
soul affirming,

and surely more
than we can ever measure

or put in an annual report,
lifesaving work.

Toni Morrison once said
in this building,

that libraries are the pillars
of our democracy.

Maya Angelou sat
on the Langston Hughes Stage

of the Schomburg Center

and called them
"Rainbows in the clouds."

These are not just
inspirational metaphors.

I've seen the lightbulbs turn on

behind the eyes of
a ten-year-old junior scholar.

I've listened to the
octogenarian volunteer

tell me that, in our building,

being there helps her
keep on keeping on.

I've greeted hundreds
of academics

in our reading rooms,

and dozens and dozens of
campuses across the nation,

who said it is hard to imagine
what their careers would be,

but for the rich collections
of the Schomburg archives.

There is nothing
in the world more powerful

than to watch a history maker
look back at her own legacy,

to touch his own past,

as I observed when
Congressman John Lewis

held in his brave hands

the second meeting notes
of SNCC,

the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee,

from October of 1960,

housed in our
Ella Baker Archives.

We should all be so fortunate
to make some necessary trouble,

as Congressman Lewis always says

of his civil rights past.

And to have that trouble
preserved

so that future generations
will learn,

and, when necessary,
be prepared to do the same.

It isn't an accident

that leaders of the NAACP
and the Urban League

appealed to the Carnegie
Corporation 90 years ago

to purchase
Arturo Schomburg's collection.

Or that civil rights researchers
turned to our collections

to argue and build a case for

Br own v. Board of Education.

Their intention and our mission

remain as relevant
and true to this day.

And through national
partnerships

and digital initiatives,

we'll reach more people
than ever before.

How much is the book?

Ten dollars, autographed copy.

I'll sign it for you personally.

Here we go, we're going to go,

Old McDonald had a farm,
E-I-E-I-O

And on that farm he had
a wife, E-I-E-I-O.

And on that farm he had
a wife, E-I-E-I-O.

With a kiss, kiss here
and a kiss, kiss there

Here a kiss, there a kiss,
everywhere a kiss, kiss

Old McDonald had a farm
E-I-E-I-O

And on that farm he had a dog,
E-I-E-I-O

With a woof, woof here
and a woof, woof there

Here a woof, there a woof,
everywhere a woof, woof

Old McDonald had a farm

On to homeless patrons.

Everyone recognizes the problem
seems to be increasing.

Yeah.

Everyone recognizes that
the library has a responsibility

to serve all patrons
and to be welcoming,

but there is sometimes a tension

between what
one kind of patron needs

and what another
kind of patron needs.

And so lines have to be drawn
about, you know,

how do we accommodate people
together

who may not always want
to be together

and be respectful of everyone.

And then there was the question

of what is the appropriate role
of the library,

not just as welcoming space
for everyone,

but, you know,
where should we be intervening

in social policy around
the homeless... Right.

As versus where should
we be relying on the city,

other private agencies

that are expert
and engaged in this

as we all face this problem.

We have a policy
that talks about

- how users have to comport
themselves in the library.

And so it would embrace
most of this conduct,

and we may have to revisit that.

I don't know if we want to give
more flexibility or less.

So if you don't do
certain things,

like if you come in and sleep,

you could literally
be asked to leave.

You aren't allowed to just come
into the library and sleep.

So the barring policy,

which can lead to your
being barred from the library

for periods of time.

So that is also part

of this discussion.

I am not an expert
at this topic,

but I've been a New Yorker
my whole life,

and one of the things that
you notice is, you know,

the way in which
we who are not homeless

keep our distance
from the homeless.

And in the libraries is a place

where we don't
keep our distance.

And I do believe that
as much as we need rules,

and as much as we need
institutions,

in the end we need a change
of culture in this town

that says, you know,

"There may be people
who are scary,

"but there're all other people
who we should just be helping,

right, as regulars
in our neighborhood."

But you... And I don't know
how to do that, right?

You know, the mayor's
made this commitment

that he's going to deal
with the homelessness issue,

and he's put $100 million
toward that goal.

Right, yeah, no, I know.

I think that they're developing
a plan to be able to do it.

And we house in this room
three collections.

The Print Collection,
the Photo Collection,

and the Spencer Collection.

The Print Collection,

we have around 300,000
to 250,000 prints.

And in our Photographic
Collection,

we have a half a million
photographs.

And this present collection
that is

about illustrated books,
European manuscripts,

we have around 15,000.

We have prints
from around the world.

But here, we have almost, the...

I can say the history
of the European printmaking.

Everything is started with
printmaking around the 1400s.

There are some samples,
early samples from the 1300s,

but, um, what I decided to do

is to show you some
of the highlights.

The first print is
Albert Duürer,

- and it's called
- Th e Rhinoceros.

Duürer used
to sell these outside

of the Sundays church
with his wife.

This is a kind of newspaper

from the time, 1515.

It's telling a story
about the king of Portugal

receiving a rhinoceros.

In 1515, a rhinoceros,

the Europeans at that point
haven't see a rhinoceros.

Last time they saw was
in the Roman Empire.

And that rhinoceros arrived
to, uh, to Lisbon,

and after that the King Manuel
decided to send this rhinoceros

to the pope.

Real thing.

But when the rhinoceros
was going to Rome,

But when the rhinoceros
was going to Rome,

the ship never arrived.

There was a very strong storm
in the Mediterranean,

and the rhinoceros die,
and there was a wreck.

Somebody took a note, a sketch.

Duürer was in Nuremberg,

and he saw this sketch,

and he say,
"Oh, that's good idea."

The caption here

is telling the story
of what's happened.

People were buying these things,

and what's almost
like a today's newspaper.

They were telling each other.

Not everybody was able to read.

Duürer never saw the rhinoceros

apparently,

and that kind of plates,
that's not really a rhinoceros,

it looks like,

but that was one
of the popular prints

about the story
of the rhinoceros.

The next one I'll show you,
you know, it's a Rembrandt.

It's after his wife died,
Saskia.

Before that time,

he did around 80 self-portraits,

together with painting
and prints.

This one is after his...

and you see the print before,
he's very joyful, you know,

wearing fancy clothing,

but here he's sitting
on the window,

and you see
an introspective artist.

Some people think
that this print

was one of the steps for,

some historians tell
the one of the steps

for a new style
in Rembrandt's career.

Come on, big smiles.

61% of the library's
expense funding

comes from public sources,

the majority of that
from the city.

It's obvious, we want to engage
our elected officials,

we want to engage our community,

because we want them to fund us.

And it brings us
financial sustainability.

My good friend,
Councilmember Andy King,

in the Bronx, he likes to say,

"People pay attention
to people who participate."

Now, think about that.

Community boards,

we're going to community boards,
telling our story.

PB, we're going to PB meetings,

telling our story,
pitching projects.

If we're not participating,

people are not going
to pay attention to us.

So civic engagement
is important.

Building deeper relationships,
what do we do?

We're out there
trying to improve the lives

of the people and
the communities that we serve.

We're trying
to improve their lives.

Now, how could we not engage
with them?

How could we not try
to build deeper relationships,

whether it's with
an individual in the branch

or with a community-based
organization?

This is a relationship
that we have with our community,

and we need to build
those relationships

as deeply as we can.

To me, the biggest
practical thing

to help us about understanding
community engagement

and really helping
you guys understand

is to do away
with that feeling of, like,

"Oh my gosh, another thing.

Oh my gosh, another thing."

It's all connected.

Summer reading is community
engagement and advocacy.

- Any program you do is community
engagement and advocacy.

Anytime you bring in an author
or an elected.

Every time you go
to a community board,

a participatory
budgeting meeting,

literally everything we do,
because it's for the community

is community engagement,

and we really have to maximize
those opportunities.

So what we're hoping is that

the more we help you understand
the big picture

and connect those dots,

it's hard to connect the dots
here in NYPL right?

Because you're split up
by branch.

You're split up by network.

You're split up by borough.

You're split up by department.

Some of us are out in the Bronx.

Some of us are at 39th Street.

Some of us are never
in our offices.

Some of us are always
in our offices,

but we're all doing
the same work

and so that feeling of,

"Oh, crap, letter writing
is starting,

"but my summer reading kickoff
is starting

and I have someone out on AL."

Like, that's the reality
of your job, right?

But the more that we understand
the budget cycle,

the community engagement cycle,

and the more we understand
that it's year-round,

the better off we are,
and the easier the lift feels.

We did it,
we got all this money,

and now we're having
to do the work to support it,

but it's gonna start again.

You know?

What does Iris always tell us?

"The budget wasn't baselined,"

and then we all start
to pull out our hair

and grumble about
the page budget,

and so that's just our work.

We always have to prove
that we're relevant.

We always have to go back
to the drawing board

and prove that we're relevant
every single day,

every single season,
but we are winners.

All we do is win.

All those other agencies
want to learn from us,

because we did it, right?

We're taking the lead.

We're working
with our sister systems

in Brooklyn and Queens,

but we're taking the lead,
you guys.

And that is all you.

Susan, there was a little pop

of this light.

It's very subtle, early on.

I heard it back.

I think I can get it,

I can get it in post, yeah.

It was pretty faint.

All right, stand by.

"Presently he came back
with the telephone directory,

"holding it like a bible,
smiling tenderly.

"And while he was gazing at her
long drooping lashes,

"Margot sped through the R's

"and found Albinus's address
and his telephone number.

"Then she quietly closed
the well-thumbed blue volume.

"'Take off your coat, '
murmured Albinus.

"Without bothering to stand up,

"she began to wriggle out
of the sleeves,

"inclining her pretty neck
and thrusting forward

"first the right
and then the left shoulder.

"As Albinus helped her,
he caught a hot whiff of violets

"and saw her
shoulder blades move,

"and the sallow skin
between them

"ripple and smooth out again.

"Then she took off her hat,

"peered into her pocket mirror

"and, wetting her forefinger,

tapped the black lovelocks
on her temples."

- Uh, let's take that pocket mirror.
- Uh, let's take that pocket mirror.

Mm-hmm.

"Then she took off her hat,

"peered into her pocket mirror,

"and, wetting her forefinger,

"tapped the black lovelocks
on her temples.

"Albinus sat down beside her

"and looked and looked
at that face

"in which everything
was so charming...

"the burning cheeks,

"the lips glistening
from the cherry brandy,

"the childish solemnity,
the long hazel eyes,

"and the small, downy mole

"on the soft curve
just beneath the left one.

"'If I knew, I should hang
for it, ' he thought,

"'I would still look at her.'

"Even that vulgar Berlin slang
of hers

"only enhanced the charm
of her throaty voice

"and large white teeth.

"When laughing,
she half closed her eyes,

"and a dimple danced
on her cheek.

"He pawed at her little hand,
but she withdrew it briskly.

"'You're driving me crazy, '
he said.

"Margot patted his cuff
and said,

"'Now be a good boy.'

"His first thought
next morning was:

"it can't go on like this,
it just can't.

"I must get her a room.

"Curse that aunt.

"We shall be alone, quite alone.

"A textbook of love
for beginners.

"Oh, the things
I shall teach her.

"So young, so pure,
so maddening.

"'Are you asleep?'

"asked Elisabeth softly.

"He achieved the perfect yawn
and opened his eyes.

Elisabeth was seated
in a pale blue nightgown."

One, two, three, four, okay.

And these you're going
to return also?

Return these. Okay.

Hello.

25 cents.

Hello.

Harney thinks that

if in America the conflict
between capital and labor

is not resolved
through a social revolution,

that what you will end up with
in the United States

is essentially the same
class-conflict-ridden

European situation,

and, like, we've seen,

the Americans still think
by the 1840s

that there is such a possibility

as an alternative future
for American capitalism.

That capital and labor
don't have to be at odds.

That the variable of land

shows this third way
out of this conflict,

and yet, here is Harney
saying, "No, listen."

"Already this is a problem

in the United States."

That famous quote
that Marx has is

that labor cannot be free

where it's branded
in black skin.

This is specifically
in the United States.

The key here is that
Marx is saying,

if capitalists have
the availability

of both slave labor
and free labor,

free labor can always be
undermined,

and, in fact, it was.

Because Northerners
already were catching up

to the fact that, you know,

"There's some black unskilled
laborers here in the North,

"and whenever these workers

"start striking
or demanding things,

we can just introduce
these unskilled people."

It's just the same principle.

So Marx is writing, saying,

look, this is a problem
that must be rid of

if you even want
to have a development

of the political workingman
politics in America.

But, secondly, and this
is the deeper argument,

which I think
is quite important today...

There is a very, very,
virulent critique

of bourgeois society
by Southern ideologues

that would have been getting
quite a hearing in the 1840s.

We know because people like
Eric Foner have written about

how Abraham Lincoln read
this stuff pretty regularly

in the Richmond Inquirer and all
of these other publications,

the Southern ideologues
would write to.

George Fitzhugh, I think
I mentioned him last time.

He's this well-known
first American sociologist.

He's a Southern ideologue.

He believes that slave society

is better than
a free laboring society.

- Why? He's got an argument.
- Why? He's got an argument.

It's coherent,
and there's a logic.

Here it is.

Throughout human history,

we've always had people
who were unfree,

in order for some
to have the liberty

to think and to act
and to engage in politics.

Throughout time
this has been the case.

Why all of a sudden

does bourgeois society promise
something it cannot accomplish,

which is the idea that all can
participate

in political activity?

This is the lie
that modern society has.

That's the problem.

It's not that there's
this class conflict,

and that you have these people
who are demanding things... no.

You've already lied to them.

The problem is that
what you want isn't possible.

The idea of a free society
is a failure.

That's a quote.

He writes this book called

Slaves Without Masters,

that essentially...

Slaves Without Masters
is the idea

of the Northern workingmen
for Fitzhugh.

He says, "Look what happens
when slaves have no masters.

"No one takes care of them.

"No one feeds them.

"No one clothes them.

"We in Southern society
have figured out the remedy

to the conflict
of capital and labor."

And, again, it's articulated
in this way.

John C. Calhoun,
also a Southern ideologue,

same way of thinking about it.

The problem of capital and labor
in America

is mitigated not by land,
they say,

but by slavery.

Richard Hofstadter, one of
the famous American historians,

writes a short essay
in his very famous book,

- The American
- Political Tradition,

That compares Fitzhugh.

He puts "Fitzhugh,
the marks of the planter class."

And what he means by that
is that you have here

a critique of
modern bourgeois society.

You have a critique of labor.

You have a critique of
this supposedly free society,

but you have a critique
from the right.

One, that as Marx says,
"The working people knew,"

this is in his address,
and I'm just going to quote it,

because I know it
off the top of my head.

This is in the address
that Marx writes to Lincoln.

This is the...

on behalf of the International
Workingmen's Association,

Marx writes a letter to Lincoln.

And he says,
"The workingmen knew,

"the workingmen knew that
when slavery was proposed

"as the solution
to capital and labor,

"they knew that all of their
hard-earned historical gains

were in jeopardy."

So, why Marx was supportive
of the Republicans,

because Marx knew

that the attack of bourgeois
society from the right

that the attack of bourgeois
society from the right

was also an attack
on any possibility

of a workers' revolution.

Because the workers' revolution,
insofar as Marx was concerned,

was a legacy
from the revolutions of 1848.

It was a task.

It was something
that was received.

So in this sense, what we have

is many different responses,
essentially,

to the crisis of
the 19th century, right?

If one end is Karl Marx

and the other end is Fitzhugh,

in the middle, and closer
to Marx, certainly,

than Fitzhugh

is Lincoln.

Lincoln says,

"The free society is not
and will not be a failure."

That Lincoln and Marx agree on.

The definition of that
free society, they disagree on.

Those two groups of people,

the liberals and the more
radical, socialist types,

have so much more in common
than slave planters

who are arguing that
bourgeois society is a lie.

It's been good for him.

I mean, I don't get the...

Let's hear it, New York!

Genet took these very
marginalized people,

and pimps and thieves
and murderers

and elevated them

within his pantheon as saints.

The Thief's Journal
is my favorite book of Genet,

The Thief's Journal
is my favorite book of Genet,

but why I love

Th e Thief's Journal

isn't necessarily because
of those things.

Yeah.

I love it because he takes,

he writes my kind of memoir.

It's a memoir,
yet it's completely true

and simultaneously
completely false.

Because that's
the kind of guy Genet was.

But when I say false,

I mean, that's the part that
he transforms truth into art.

He elevates it as poetry.

And in this way it's close
to what Anselm Kiefer says.

Yes, and I think that, you know,

I don't even like
reading memoirs.

People say, "What's your
favorite memoirist?

Whose memoirs do you like?"

I hardly ever read them.

I like fiction, really.

Really strange that
I should be writing nonfiction,

but it just happened.

But, um...
but that's the kind of,

I was thinking of it
and writing this.

I didn't want to just sit
and write an autobiography.

I wanted to, you know...
And you don't.

Just write about real time,

which I am living,
and the things that are,

they're the truth
of my real time.

But what is the truth
of our real time?

It contains dreams.

It contains, you know,
spinning off.

It contains, uh, uh,
misinterpretation.

It contains memory.

So I was very interested
in finding a way

to braid all of these
things together.

I'm Gerry Oliva,
Director of Facilities.

In the spirit
of getting things done,

Iris actually has been
generous the last two years,

to set up a fund called
Fix It Now,

which sets aside a pot of money
for us to take care of items

that are non-capitally eligible.

So these can range anything
from, you know,

doing a paint job,
replacing doors,

whatever we need to do
in the branches

to keep things functional
so that they look good.

In FY15, we actually completed
25 projects

totaling almost
a million dollars.

In fiscal year '16, working
with Sites and Services,

we've identified over 260
projects that need to be done.

70 of those

are priority one projects.

- We completed seven projects to date
- We completed seven projects to date

And spent a little bit
over $249,000.

The projects currently are,

at Inwood, we did new flooring;

Cathedral,
we did a complete refresh;

Battery Park City,

we did a glass-enclosed
multipurpose room;

Hamilton Grange, a new boiler;

Pelham Bay, new flooring
and paint;

St. George, new computer table;

and we have 11 additional
projects in place.

We'll continue to work
with Sites and Services

to reprioritize projects
as necessary

and to add projects to the list.

And as long as

we have the funding,

we'll spend it and get it done.

How can we help circulation?

Where can we add to it?

Where would we find
an enhancement?

Um, and Melissa
rightfully pointed out

that in the ebook category,

the waits are enormous
to get our ebooks,

particularly the popular novels.

Um, and so...

More so than in-print books?

More, yes, yes.

The backlog is, she said,

I think almost like four
or five months to get.

Yes, it's terrible.

It's terrible.

If one of the ways you want
to spend these funds,

which has to be in accord

both what we need to do...
And...

and what the city wants us to do
with the city's money,

um, I'd like to see the analysis

of ebook borrowing,
physical borrowing,

and whether more money in...

you know, what the bang
for the buck is,

and more money
into either of those.

Ebooks are growing

at about 300% of circulation,

and we know that circ
in our libraries,

physical circ is not growing
at 300%.

And that the waits,

the wait time because
of the licensing terms

is much longer for ebooks
than physical...

We... I mean, we can definitely
show you the data,

but it's very concrete
that that's the issue.

And because we're going out
with SimplyE

in, I think, early November now,

adding in more collections
into ebooks

will drive numbers up hugely,
we believe.

Well, we'll meet demand,
usually,

because you can flick a switch.

And the analysis we did
on educators and grade levels,

we actually believe
that we can be very specific

about what we target

in terms of
which ebooks we go after.

So we're not just going
to buy, you know,

whatever is on the street.

We're actually, we're actually
very carefully looking

at where we can make it...

So the big decision there,
so I'm mindful of this,

because the conversations
I've started to have...

Yes, this is huge.
Licensing deals we made,

which were great
and historic four years ago

favored the thick end
of distribution, right?

So we got permission
for the first time

to buy licenses for books,

but they have to be
borrowed enough

to justify paying
for a full license,

whether it's 52 lends,
two years, perpetual,

whatever, different terms,
different deals.

- And that's why it's gone up 300%
- And that's why it's gone up 300%

And why the other libraries
in the country have benefited,

which is great.

Now I'm going back
to the publishers and saying,

"Let's get to the rest
of the tail, right?"

Let's get free previews.

Let's get metered rate,
so that it's...

so that we can offer in effect,
a universal e-catalog.

The question will still be,
though,

if you imagine a future
in which we...

everything is potentially
borrowable, electronically,

for those who want to,

we'll still have to decide

whether we want to put money
into metered rates

for, you know, a book
that doesn't circulate hugely

or more for the best sellers,

and partly that's demand,

and it's partly what's
the right thing for us to do?

Right?

So we'll still have to decide.

So that e-content, licensing
purchase content strategy,

that's what
Mike has been talking

to Melissa
and Christopher about...

to help you work
through those negotiations.

So I guess, I understand
the temptation of electronic,

because if things go
as we hope they are,

our... the opportunity there
is about to expand,

if the deals that we're trying
to negotiate work.

And demand is clearly expanded
more than supply,

though I would like
to see those numbers.

But let's go back
and say, you know,

we also are concerned that
we hadn't been able...

Because of budget cuts from
the city and more generally...

We hadn't been able to do
as much increase

of physical book purchasing

for circulating
and for the research library,

and so how does one decide

between "e-"
and then physical circulating

and physical research
collections?

We looked at what's circulating
and what's not circulating

in terms of physical books,

and we have some analysis
of that.

We decided to take
the money this year

and really focus
on early childhood.

So we've set up

specific early childhood
family literacy centers.

Those, there are special
collections being built.

This is physical, now.

Yes.

Physical collections that align

with the early literacy program

that we're putting
in those 20 sites.

Plus, looking
at the other 60 sites

that won't have the whole
family literacy centers

put in there,

and really look at whether
we have the materials.

We're also testing...

This is part of the service
innovation community work

that we're doing...
We're also testing

building up nonfiction
children's collections

that don't float,

so that we can actually bring...

and partnering with the teachers

to make sure we have the right
materials in those centers.

So rather than sort of
go whole hog

and decide
"Let's change the whole thing,"

we're dipping our toes in

to making sure that
those are the areas.

Certainly for the more
popular fiction for adults,

I think we understand
that very well.

But this is where
we're really trying to focus,

is in the family literacy,

and with the schools,

and then figuring out
for nonfiction materials,

what should float or not float

- and we are building
those collections out.

So we are addressing out
to that physical issue.

What about the physical research
collection budget

that we were concerned about?
Yes.

Not the famous special
collection acquisitions,

but everything else, right?
Right, but the...

I think the questions,
are we buying the right things,

because it's an old collection
development policy.

It's, like, from 2008,

and as I said, I really want
the Mellon director

to get hand-deep into that.

So depending on where we are
with that, you know,

we can dig deep into that

to make sure
we're really spending money

on things that have
research value

and are used.

And I'm not convinced

that that's totally
the case right now.

I need to look at that
a little bit.

You know and I know that,
at a market rate,

we still have to put more money
into the research collections,

but we also want to look at that

in terms of the...
our properties

and to see whether
the boundary of 50-50

is a real boundary
or just an agreed-to boundary,

and maybe there's something
we can do better.

I just think it's easier

to raise money
for research collections

than it is to raise money
for city collections.

Let's make sure we're putting
it in the right place.

We're just talking
about one piece

of the possible allocation
of these funds,

which is collections,

electronic,
circulating, research,

physical and electronic.

And, you know, the great dilemma

given constrained
or not infinite resources,

which, sadly, is our fate,

is you could spend every dollar
on the best sellers,

and they would fly out the door,

but then we would have no money
for the things that...

We recommend.

We recommend, or that, you know,

we need to have
in our collection

for the off chance
that ten years from now,

somebody's really going
to need it,

and there's no place else
to find it.

We have... Yeah.

And, in fact,
on the best sellers,

those, the non-library
circulatory system

of the best sellers seems
to work pretty well, right?

Yeah, yeah.
It's not totally socially

just for those who can't afford
the latest best seller,

but it's not like
they're not circulating.

Whereas, I do think

we have a social commitment
to the backlist

that isn't circulating, right?
Yeah, yep.

Tomorrow morning before we open,

we have to put
them back downstairs

wherever they were.

Guys, all,
you also have a chair,

she's going to show you,
let's go to the other end.

Let's do that whole table
down there, everybody.

What's happening?

Here we go.

Oh, my gosh.

Now, who left
their jackets here?

Whose white jackets were these?

They were moved here.

They were moved here.

So please make sure
you're taking yours,

not leaving
someone's dirty jacket...

One of those looks like...

We all see how it's done guys.

This is kind of pointless to me.

This is here,
that's the other one,

two, three, four.

Okay, got it.

Double check if everybody
has a sponsor card

and a program, please.

Like that,
let's do that, all right?

So let's do this table first.

Make it really symmetrical.

Do this table,

work your way there
to the other box,

set them back.

Guys... beautiful.

I'm very proud of this end,
all right, all right.

You did a very good job.

And Anthony Appiah has
volunteered

to tell us about a few items

in this instance
from the Schomburg Collection,

a selection of works
by Phillis Wheatley.

Phillis Wheatley became

the first African-American
woman poet

to be published in this country
in 1770.

But she was born in West Africa

and sold into slavery
when she was seven

and brought here and purchased

by the Wheatley family
of Boston,

who taught her to read and write

and seemed to have
encouraged her poetry.

She arrived in Boston
on the 11th of July 1761

aboard the Phillis,

the ship from which
she derived her first name,

which was recently returned

from Senegal, Sierra Leone,
and Guinea.

When the Wheatleys died,

Phillis married a free man
of color named John Peters,

who was a grocer.

The rest of her life
was not so happy.

Two of their children died
in infancy.

Peters was imprisoned for debt

in 1784 and then
Wheatley fell into poverty

and died and was quickly
followed in death

by her only surviving
infant son.

So her poems
are her only legacy.

Schomburg has Arthur Schomburg's
own copy of an elegiac poem

on the Reverend and Learned
Mr. George Whitefield

which was the first poem
Wheatley published.

Whitefield was an evangelist
in the U.S.

and the personal chaplain
of Selina Hastings,

the Countess of Huntingdon,

who was one of the leading
figures in British Methodism.

Wheatley's Whitefield elegy
brought her into national fame,

and it was published in London
as well as in Boston.

And her reputation
was reinforced

by the publication
of her poem, "Recollection,"

which first appeared
in March 1772

in the London magazine
or gentleman's monthly,

Intelligencer,

which was then
more widely published

in American
and British periodicals.

So what we have here on display

are materials all collected
by Arthur Schomburg himself.

As I say, his copy of the
first poem Wheatley published,

his first edition of the poems,

signed by Phillis Wheatley
herself.

His London magazine
with the poem "Recollection,"

and a copy

of Memoirs and Poems
of Phillis Wheatley,

published in Boston in 1834,
signed by Schomburg.

- That book, which was published
the year Wheatley died

By Margaretta Matilda Odell,
was the, is the basis

of much of what we know

about Phillis Wheatley's life.

In a famous poem about her
enslavement, Wheatley wrote,

"'Twas mercy brought me
from my pagan land,

"taught my benighted soul to
understand that there's a God,

"and there's a Savior too,

once I redemption
neither sought nor knew."

So we can see
why Thomas Jefferson

in the Notes on the
State of Virginia,

might have written that,

"Religion indeed has produced
a Phillis Wheatley,

but it could
not produce a poet."

But this was not the only
judgment of her

made by one of the founders.

In 1776 Wheatley wrote a letter
and a poem

in support of Washington,
George Washington,

and he replied
with a gracious invitation

to visit him in Cambridge,

stating he would be,

"Happy to see a person
so favored by the Muses."

I'm very grateful
to Steven Fullwood,

assistant curator
of Manuscripts, Archives,

and Rare Books at the Schomburg,

both for finding this material
and for telling me about it.

Unless there is other business
before the board,

we are adjourned, thank you.

Well, here we are again.

Thank you for coming.

Eyes open.

Smile, smile, yes.

Yes, that's, I always forget
the smile part.

There, so you can all see it.

Okay.

Eyes wide open, smiles.

So maybe just talk about
the state of play.

So you've talked
about it historically.

You've talked about reparations,

but this book
clearly is original

in one significant formulation
among many,

- but one being that
- but one being that

You wrestle
with the issue of violence

within the black community

in ways that typically are
positioned as an either-or.

That's... that's...
Either these are explorations

that are about
the terrible things

that black people
do to themselves...

Right.

Or they're about
the terrible things

that whites do to black people.

Yeah.

But here, and probably
surprising to many,

you found a way to web...
wed those two things together.

And that seems to me to be
an explicit response

to the conversation
we've been having

about Michael Brown, for example.
Right.

Right, well, as you said,
it's very much a response

to an ocean of
"black on black crime"

or black people not caring
about black on black crime.

And I think people
who regrettably, you know,

people who I agree with
quite a bit,

play into this sometimes

because they are afraid
of talking about

"neighbor on neighbor,"
as someone, you know,

helpfully phrased it for me.

Neighbor on neighbor crime
that happens

in African American communities,

and we say
neighbor on neighbor crime

because the vast
majority of crime

that happens in any community

is done by other
community members.

That was always true.

That did not
become true in 1965.

That has always been true
in black communities

and in other people's
communities.

It's just true.

People don't tend to, you know,

take the subway
to the other side of town,

you know, to commit a crime,

they tend to rob people
who are right around them.

And in that sense,
the black community

is just another human community.

And the fact that
the black community

suffers more crime

is part of the oppression,

not separate
from the oppression.

Mm-hmm.

It's not something that,
you know, mutate over...

it is part of what happens

when you have
a group of people who,

over a course of generations,

have been isolated,
segregated, plundered,

have had things taken from them.

The expectation that
the amount of crime

that happens
in their neighborhoods

will somehow be the same

as what happens
in other neighborhoods,

it's absurd. Right.

It's just absurd, you know.

I don't find it hard to explain,

nor am I afraid of
any sort of conversation

about the kind of
neighbor on neighbor violence

that happens in
African American communities.

What the hell do you
expect to happen?

Right. It just makes sense.

You know, I'm black,
I'm African American,

there is so much
about being African American

and African American politics
that I don't understand,

primarily because
in my household

Malcolm X was Jesus.

You know, and so,
your orientation is...

I mean, and that's like,

again, that's at
the root of this book.

You know, like
the stress on the body.

You know, Malcolm's belief,
his anger, his rage,

you know, at seeing, you know,

black people beat in the street

and dogs sicced on black people,

said to me, "The black body,
your body, is precious."

Your life is
as precious as anyone,

and you should not
give up your life

and you should not give up
your body for rights that are

already written
in the Constitution.

I'm making my way very slowly

right now through this
Barbara Tuchman book

called A Distant Mirror,

- it's a history of the 14th century.
- It's a history of the 14th century.

And she has this chapter

on serfs, and she goes
through the literature

of how people talk about serfs,

and it's no different than

how people talk
about black people,

except the substitution
for the science that, you know,

we use for black people,

I meant black people
being scientifically,

you know, genetically inferior,
is replaced by God.

That's really, really
the only difference,

so when you get to that,
you say,

"Well, damn, this is something
about the human condition."

Like... and I guess
in many ways like,

that's the power of the
African American experience,

when you begin to understand,

there's actually
a statement about

the human condition.

As we're seeing
the fruits of our labor

with all the increased staff

and increased hours

and increased
educational opportunities

that were created.

And we had a great campaign,

Invest in Libraries, right?

I mean, we need to sort of

tee this up for next year.

Um, we have to have a new story,
a new priority.

It can't just be that we want

to baseline the money
that we got last year.

I mean, is it seven-day service

across the entire system?

Um, is it, you know,
more capital money?

We have to sort of
formulate that here,

and before we know it,

the budget cycle
is going to be upon us.

I'm sure that they're going
to have their first hearing

starting at the end of November

for the next fiscal year.

So this is sort of
an important moment

to sort of figure out,

and you're the ones

to sort of help us
craft this message.

To sort of help us
craft this message.

So I think that
we need to sort of

start having a discussion
about this and, you know,

we need to know how much

can we absorb here, you know?

It was a phenomenal year
and, you know,

between Louise
and Christopher, you know,

hiring these people,
getting them, you know,

assimilated into the library,

that's a huge number of people

to get into the library system.

Um, so, we need to sort of
figure out what the message is.

And, you know, it's gonna...

it's the third year
of this administration.

We sort of have to have
the right message.

I believe, George,
that we're beginning

to get into their psyche
a little bit more.

So, you know, this is the moment

to start thinking about that.

We had asked for $65 million,

and the $65 million would have

brought us back to fiscal '08.

So we didn't get
everything that we asked for.

But by the same token,

through the eyes
of our friends in government,

they may feel that the problem

as far as library funding
is concerned is solved.

So that's one of
the big dilemmas

that we have to deal with
at this point.

We also know that we had

over $1 billion in capital needs

that we were asking for.

We only received $300 million.

But the real remarkable thing
that happened last year,

is for the first time ever
as far as we can remember,

is that they actually
entered into a dialogue with us

at a point in the process where

they had never done that
in the past.

So to them, again,
on the capital side,

they may feel
that problem is solved.

So, we have to get past that.

We have to articulate
a message this year again.

And, in addition to
the message around funding,

we have to continue
applying pressure

on the community side.

I mean, that's...
that's a reality

and that worked last year,
so we have to continue

applying pressure in that way,

continue to build relationships,

not just with
our elected officials,

but with the groups
and the individuals

and the users and supporters

and all the folks out there
that really do love libraries

and to have them
tell our story for us.

We have a core group

of library managers

who really were phenomenal
last year

and are gonna
be great this year.

And, you know, we need
to sort of figure out,

also, what their roles
are going to be.

You know, not everybody
is great at this,

but people can have
buddies and partners

who can teach them
how to do this.

For me, the key questions
that we need

to get our head around
is sort of

"What is it, what's next
that we want to do,

or need to do,
or need to fund to do?"

And what do we think
is a political message

that our colleagues in city hall

and city council will embrace?

I mean, I think
one of the lessons

we learned last year is
surprise, surprise,

politicians like
simple messages, right?

So, six-day service, all right?

And, you know,
the way to win here

is to think about
the match between

- what it is we are delivering
and want to deliver,

And what is a message that
is easily projected from them,

so that they can
rally the citizenry

in support of what they're
trying to do as well.

And this only works
if we think strategically

for and with
the political leaders

and match that
with the substance

of what we think
we need to deliver

and need to
find the funding for,

and that's the intersect
that we're looking for.

Macomb's Bridge,
as you may not know,

is the jewel of
the New York Public Library.

And we do have

programs such as this
for the community,

for us to come and talk
and have a conversation.

And it is about moving forward.

It's not just about
talking about,

we can't preach
to the choir, you know.

Mm-hmm. Right.

We already know.

But it is about moving forward,

and sometimes you have
to take little steps

to move forward.

So you have come to talk,

and there are
five young men outside,

and I say to them,

"Hey guys, come on in

and listen
to Brother Muhammad talk ."

Because even if they're
in here on the computer,

that's good enough for me.

Yeah. Because they're listening,

and that's what the beauty
of Macomb's Bridge is,

that we're small, right?

They chose not to,
and that's fine.

Latron did.

Yeah, Latron is over there.

But they... but there
is this peer kind of thing

and we've all been children

and there's that
peer kind of a thing

and they chose to stay outside
and take pictures while,

you know, doing
whatever it is that they do.

This is a first step.

We also have our writers group,

which is a group of adults
who come together

and talk about things
in the community,

but not only that,
talk about things,

what's going on in the library.

You know, the free access

that we have in the library

in your own community.

And you can't
force people to come in

and take information
that's available to them,

you can only let them
know it's there.

From what I see,

I'm teaching
in the school system.

I grew up single.

My mom was young, single.

I knew my father,
but he didn't live with me.

My husband, same thing.

We grew up without
our fathers in our home.

We grew up, there were
"uncles" there, quote unquote,

but no fathers were there.

So, we tried to change that
with our son, you know,

and made sure that we were there

and it does make a difference.

Not only us being
in the household,

Not only us being
in the household,

but us being there,

because you can
still be a family,

but if you're working 12 hours

and your husband
is working 12 hours,

your child is still
being raised by the street,

or pray to God that
someone in the school

is caring enough for them

to let them stay
a little longer.

I see now, after school programs
start early.

Some students are out there
6:00 in the morning,

waiting for the school to open

because their parents
have to go to work

to pay these bills

or to do whatever they
need to do

and then they go home
8:00, 8:30.

That's from 6:00 in the morning

to 8:30 at night.

There is no family,

no kind of connection.

Okay,

I told a lot of people,
you have to...

don't depend on anyone.

Do it yourself,
just believe in yourself

and keep working at it.

I couldn't afford
to go to film school.

I learned from the library.

I learned how to type.

I learned how to read a script.

I learned how to do all that
from the library.

People say,
"Why didn't you go to school?"

I was taking care of my kids,

I couldn't afford it,
couldn't find no job.

So, I learned from the library.

But we have to stick together

and we have to form a group
where we can say,

"We just ain't going
to take it no more,"

and just do and look out
for each other.

We cut each other's
throat a lot.

Because once somebody get it,
think as, or Nas was saying,

you know, once you start
getting that money,

everybody want to go
spend money downtown, they...

nobody want to bring money
back into the community.

And then when we try to

bring back money
in the community,

we're always trying to get...

cut each other's throat.

If we come together,

it seems like the only time
we come together

is when something crazy
happens with us, you know?

As soon as it's over,
it died out

and everything's back the same.

Can I say something

about what he just said?

My grandmother had a store,
and I'll tell you

how she lost her store.

Like almost every other

black store owner.

When you have a store,
you have to buy products.

You have to buy straws,

you have to buy
brown paper bags,

you have to buy canned peas.

So, what happens is you have
to go to your distributor,

the people who are
distributing these items,

and most of the time, most...

Like 99% of the time,
they're white.

So what basically happened
with my grandmother is

that they kept going up
on her prices

of her straws,
of her paper bags,

of her canned peas,
of her this and that.

So, every time they went up,
she had to go up.

But those same distributors

weren't going up on their prices
in other communities.

Right. They stayed the same.

So, basically,

that's how they basically
get it, get you out,

and it goes from one thing
to another,

from farms to our meat markets.

We have no farms.

As a matter of fact,

the government
was sued by black farmers

over 20 years ago,
and they have yet, to this day,

got their money for their farms.

So, I mean, it's terrible.

- Yeah, and if you notice the neighborhood
- Yeah, and if you notice the neighborhood

And who owns the stores

and what we particularly eat
is outrageous prices.

Like, my mother used
Hellmann's mayonnaise.

You go to the store now,

Hellmann's mayonnaise
is like $6.99

when it should be $3.99.

And the same goes
for chicken wings.

It's more than steak now.

You know,
it's because we eat this

and we're going
to buy it, you know, so...

So it's a lot of that going on,

but it's almost
every single aspect

of our lives
are hit some kind of way.

We talk about
these things that we need

for our children
in the communities,

but we don't have 'em
in the communities for them.

We don't have this... these tapes

that show and tell
their true history.

The only thing we have
available for them

are textbooks that
tell them untruths.

Like McGraw Hill,

they're still printing
untruths about our lives.

Would you tell everyone

about what happened
with McGraw Hill,

because it's an
interesting example.

Okay, McGraw Hill, we spend
millions, billions of dollars

across our country,
giving them the right

to write textbooks that we use

to educate our children
on a daily basis.

So they wrote a textbook,
and in it, it mentioned,

it was a section about slavery

and it said something
to the effect,

I don't want to quote,

but the slaves came
to America as workers

to lighten the load,
but the thing that...

The significant point is
when it... they were contacted,

they said that they did it

and they will only
change the writing

if someone calls them and asks.

So if you haven't
heard about it,

your schools haven't
heard about it,

the books won't be changed.

So this is information

that we are allowing
our children to hear

because the Department of Ed,

they have a big contract
with McGraw Hill.

Yeah, so...
So what do we do about that?

So McGraw Hill,
in a geography book,

as you just described,
describes, on a section,

immigration, and it's looking at

how this diverse,
very diverse country,

a nation, that we often say,
of immigrants,

where did its people come from?

And it's pitched to
a ninth grade audience

of social studies students
learning geography,

and in the section that looks at

the southeast corner
of the United States

it's purple, meant
to denote African Americans.

And there's a little bubble
that jumps out and says,

between the 1500s and 1800s,
immigrants from Africa

came to work in the southeast
part of the country.

- I'm paraphrasing.
- I'm paraphrasing.

Literally referred
to immigrants...

black people
as immigrant workers.

Workers, yeah.

Now, that was egregious enough,

but the irony,
that in the passage

referencing indentured servants

to explain how people
of lower economic status

from England and Australia
arrived here,

said that indentured servants
came and often had to work,

had to do difficult work
for little or no pay.

So in reference to the quality
of their experience

and their recompense
for their contribution,

there's actually
a qualitative judgment

about what happened
to indentured servants

and nothing with reference
to people of African descent.

And it is hard to justify this.

There's a page of advisors.

There's an editorial board,
and unfortunately

Texas is where this textbook
was being used,

which is the largest
textbook market in the country

and this happens,
you know, in 2015.

The one thing I'll say,

and this is a very
exceptional thing to say,

but it is true.

This community happens to be
very different than many others.

You do have
the Schomburg Center.

Yes.

So, you do have a place

where you can spend
the rest of your life

and sending your children there
for the rest of their lives

to learn the truth,
and the truth is complicated,

but you certainly can draw upon
the collective wisdom

of people who have
thought deeply

and paid very close attention
to the historical record

to correct
the mythologies and lies

about people of African descent
in this country.

So we know that,

you know, the average woman
makes 77 cents on the dollar

that the average man makes.

The black woman makes
62 cents on the dollar

for every dollar
that a white man makes

and even less than
her white counterpart.

So are you supposed to walk
into the marketplace

and say "Yeah, pay me less
than everybody else?"

Or are you supposed to say,
"I want to be part

"of making sure that the women
who come behind me

are paid equally for their
contribution to our economy"?

So that's troubling.

And I'm not sure
where that came from

other than this notion
that there's a price to be paid

for standing up for justice
and inequality.

And that's certainly true.

But if we don't teach our kids
at an earlier date

something different
about privileging values

in how we govern ourselves
in the world

and how we think about people

and how we relate
to one another,

then I'm afraid
we will be reproducing

the same outcomes
as we move forward.

But I fell in love with this man

who wanted to
understand the world

and he's an extraordinary person

who leads me towards porcelain.

Tschirnhaus thinks
that it's possible

to analyze the products
of the arts

in a philosophical manner

that boats and bridges
and buildings

should be considered
as the arts of invention.

- These objects can train
- These objects can train

What he calls
the active imagination.

Because they exhibit

all the possibilities
of imagination.

In fact, I realize,

he takes on the world
as possibility.

As you walk down the street

there's nothing
in the material world

that you encounter
that cannot be brought

into this space of reflection,

and at each point
of this reflection

as you pause and look
with dedication,

at this lamppost, this gateway,

you recreate the manner
of its creation.

You move through
the series of actions

that caused it
to come into being.

And above all,
he's interested, he writes,

in how to obtain
what should be observed

in the first mode
of the formation of things.

How something comes into being
is critical.

It's a kind of poiesis.

And when I read this,
my heart swells.

This is my rubric,

of my journey to my white hills,

this tracing
of the first formation

of porcelain from white earth
into something else.

Tschirnhaus is describing
with a passionate lucidity

the value of looking
and thinking

about how an object

as an idea comes into being.

Primo Levi,

my hero, wrote in The Wrench

of the advantage of
being able to test yourself,

not depending on others
in the test,

reflecting yourself
in your work,

on the pleasure of seeing
your creature grow,

beam after beam,
bolt after bolt.

Necessary, symmetrical,
suited to purpose,

by which Primo Levi, a chemist

who spent his working life
analyzing paint

as well as being a writer,

means that method
is interesting.

Be very, very careful
when you describe

how something is made,
how it comes into shape,

as process is not
to be skated over.

The manner of what we make

defines us.

Music and your work.

Music occupies your life...

Yes... and you work to it.

And it was this wonderful piece

that I read where you talk about

the various musical moments
that mattered to you

from Keith Jarret to Purcell

to the piece we're going
to listen to if we could.