Garland County Library, AR; North Bergen Free Public Library, NJ; and Queens Public Library, NY, demonstrate the resourceful programming, robust partnerships, and care for their communities that has earned them Honorable Mention for the 2020 Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize.
The 2024–25 Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize has gone to Missouri’s St. Louis County Library for the variety of ways it prioritizes neighborhood needs. Out of many deserving entries, three others stood out as well for their imaginative and replicable focus on equity, local partnerships, and the health of their communities.
ADAM WEBB | Executive Director
With a history dating back nearly 200 years, the single-branch Garland County Library (GCL) serves 100,000 residents in the southwest quarter of Arkansas. GCL operates in a county that suffers from the effects of poverty, functional illiteracy, economic disinvestment, and low rates of broadband adoption. But the library has something many counties do not: a can-do spirit that has inspired community partners to commit to a bold and audacious plan for library service.
Through GCL’s “Think Outside the Library” initiative, it has introduced four new services in recent years that expand the library’s reach: a new bookmobile, remote lockers for hold pickups and returns, home delivery, and the transformation of an adjacent vacant lot into a one-acre community garden and pocket park where library programming can take place. The efforts are paying off: in one area where there was low library use, GCL has seen a 152 percent increase in new library card sign-ups and a 42 percent increase in physical circulation.
A focus on relationship building over the past five years is also making a difference for GCL. Leading the county’s broadband committee has brought renewed focus on the library as a key community asset addressing the digital divide. GCL’s “Spa Con,” a comic book convention created by the library, is a collaborative effort to support local readers and drive visitors to the area. And, GCL’s annual “Show Me Your Library Card” month promotion counts 50 local businesses that offer library cardholders special discounts.
For all it’s done to expand service, GCL’s work to make the library a more diverse and inclusive place for staff and customers is notable. Working with the NAACP, Difference Makers of Hot Springs, and other civic groups, the library led a series of listening sessions in recent years that forced it to confront a history of racism. Many older people in the community still remember not being able to go to the Garland County Library because of segregation, says GCL Executive Director Adam Webb. During his tenure, the library prioritized changes to staff recruitment efforts, which has led to staffing more closely in line with community demographics. Webb also worked with the county judge to bring more diversity to GCL’s board—over the past two years, the board has appointed two women of color. Webb’s vocal support of intellectual freedom—he joined the successful lawsuit against Arkansas Act 372—helped position GCL as a champion of the freedom to read. —Hallie Rich
SAI RAO | Executive Director
For the North Bergen Free Public Library, NJ, relationships are the force driving nearly all it does. Located in a densely populated urban area across the Hudson River from New York City, the library has a unique layout: two branches in North Bergen and one in the neighboring town of Guttenberg.
The library supports a diverse area with a high immigrant population; more than three-quarters of its residents speak a language other than English at home, and half were born outside of the United States. The region is vibrant, yet faces a range of economic, health, education, and language challenges. Starting with a staff that reflects the community’s makeup—including three of four leadership positions that are held by women of color—the library’s mission is to forge connections at all levels to bring wide-ranging services and resources to the neighborhoods it serves.
Executive Director Sai Rao has deliberately cultivated connections at the state and local level. She serves on the North Bergen Board of Education and the Community Relations Committee at Hackensack Meridian Health, among others, and staff members sit on the school board and volunteer for local nonprofits. The library creates programs in partnership with the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Hudson County Division of Senior Services, Hudson Pride Center, and more than 40 other community organizations. This means, for example, that public school teachers come to the library to provide reading and math skills help (only 32 percent of the city’s elementary and middle school students tested at or above proficient levels for reading, and 11 percent for math), the Department of Labor helps extend ESL programming for adults at all branches, and NJ Northeast Legal Services offers free drop-in legal help every month.
When Rao was looking to expand the library’s footprint, the city of North Bergen supported construction of the North Bergen Community Center and Library—a mutually beneficial collaboration with the town’s recreation department—which opened in 2022. A recent $3 million grant from the New Jersey State Library will fund significant upgrades to the Main Library, allowing it to house local health services.
“At the end of the day, libraries are in the business of people—serving people, empowering people, and connecting people,” says Rao. “With strong relationships as our library’s scaffolding, we can ensure that our community can grow, evolve, and flourish not just for the next five, maybe 10 years, but for generations.” —Lisa Peet
DENNIS M. WALCOTT | President and CEO
New York City’s borough of Queens is the most ethnically and culturally diverse area in the country, with an estimated 180 languages spoken among 2.4 million residents. The Queens Public Library (QPL), with 66 locations—including the Central Library, seven adult learning centers, a technology center located in the nation’s largest public housing complex, and five teen centers, plus two bookmobiles and two bicycles—provides a sweep of programs and resources as varied as the communities it serves.
Nearly 48 percent of the Queens population was born outside the country, and QPL leverages city partnerships at all levels to help smooth their paths. During FY23, the library offered 180 English for Speakers of Other Languages classes for 4,115 adult learners, and the New Americans Program gave 72 coping skills workshops for 2,444 new immigrants, covering topics such as housing, health insurance, and immigration law. The library offers nearly five million books and other materials in over 50 languages, and in 2022 launched LanguageLine, which provides live phone interpreting services in more than 240 languages at each location.
QPL regularly participates in meetings of the Queens Borough President’s Immigration Task Force and is the only public library to be a member of the New York Immigration Coalition, an umbrella organization that represents more than 200 immigrant rights groups throughout New York City. As a co-leader of the Undo Poverty: Flushing collaborative, QPL engages residents to identify solutions for economic mobility. Longstanding collaborations with organizations such as the New York Legal Assistance Group, Asian Americans for Equality, and the New York Immigration Coalition enable QPL to provide comprehensive legal, health, and educational services to immigrants. The Ravenswood Learning Center offers workforce readiness programming in direct response to community input.
One patron noted, “The library is a resource for our lives and a conduit for who we will become.” QPL has its eye on the future of Queens residents—but also their storied pasts. The Queens Memory Project, a community archiving initiative, helps residents share their stories through podcasts, interactive maps, photo scanning activities, and collected oral histories.
“Our goal is to ensure that every person who uses our resources finds success in their lives,” says QPL President and CEO Dennis M. Walcott. “Our extensive multilingual collections reflect the rich cultural heritage of our communities,
while our vital programs, such as free English classes, citizenship assistance, coping skills, and other offerings, help immigrant customers thrive in New York City.” —Lisa Peet
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