Public Employee Press

Members meet the crisis
Libraries became havens
Back from devastation

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Branch libraries promptly became vital community centers for neighborhoods hit hard by Hurricane Sandy.

The Brooklyn and Queens public library systems responded quickly after the superstorm, helping residents as branches recovered from storm damage.

DC 37 library workers helped distribute hot meals and provided uprooted patrons with information about federal disaster relief and finding jobs.

They set up charging stations for cell phones, ran activities - even an origami club at one branch - and signed out many, many books.

"We learned as we went along," said Sharon Anderson, the community library manager at the Far Rockaway branch, noting that library workers found themselves acting as emergency responders.

Sandy closed four Queens Borough Public Library branches in the Rockaways. Branches that were untouched or less severely damaged responded immediately to community needs.

"We became a distribution center, providing food, clothes, everything to help the community," Anderson said. "We listened and provided shoulders to cry on. And we gave a lot of people hope."

Unprecedented damage

Queens Library reassigned Librarians Kacper Jarecki and Matthew Allison and Customer Service Rep. Laura Rodriguez from the devastated Seaside branch to a "library bus" outside the Peninsula branch, which is also closed.

"The bus was very important in the beginning," said Jarecki, vice president for Librarians of Queens Library Guild Local 1321.

"This was a shock," Jarecki said. "You had never seen this type of destruction. At times like these, people like a familiar presence, a place they can visit for Internet access and to read newspapers."

Allison said the library bus served as a refuge for people whose homes lost heat, hot water and electricity. They continue to enjoy taking their children there and appreciate having a selection of free books, he said.

Rodriguez lives in the area, which was slammed by a 20-foot-high wave that spread sand and debris through the streets. Luckily, her condo wasn't damaged, but it had no electricity or heat for nearly three weeks, forcing her and her 17-year-old son to move in with family. She also lost her car.

"I have lived in this area for 10 years," Rodriguez said. "It broke my heart to see homes destroyed. We don't have a boardwalk anymore."

The Brooklyn Public Library system faces an estimated $10 million in repairs and must replace more than 75,000 books, magazines and DVDs.

Brooklyn Library Guild Local 1482 member Fred Zimmermann worked with a maintenance team to clean up the Gerritsen Beach branch.

"A lot of people came by and said, 'We're glad you're cleaning up the library. It's important for the community,' " he said.

Library Associate Donna Longobardi used to work in the Red Hook branch, which was flooded and will remain closed until damaged computers, furniture and books are replaced. She helped with the cleanup there and now works at the Mill Basin branch.

Longobardi is among hundreds of DC 37 members forced out of their homes by flood damage. She used to live with her mother in her great-grandfather's home on Van Brunt Street in Red Hook, but the house suffered major water damage and they are now staying with relatives.

Another Brooklyn staffer displaced from Red Hook, Librarian Sandra Sutton, is rotating among branches, including Brooklyn Heights and Eastern Parkway.

"The library stepped up and everything worked out well," she said. "I was proud of my organization."