Public Employee Press

"My future is dark"

Children's Librarian Selina Sharmin would seem to be the ideal employee for the Queens Public Library. She started out in 2000 as a clerical worker and worked her way up to Librarian and earned a master's degree in library science.

Sharmin, 37, comes from Bangladesh and feels very dedicated to the library, which serves over 2 million people in the most diverse county in the United States. Queens has a large Bangladeshi community of 12,000, and Sharmin ran the library's first picture book project in Bengali last year.

"I am really feeling bad because I love the library and really enjoyed helping my community," said Sharmin, proud that her job could help fellow immigrants.

But her world came tumbling down this summer when she was among 46 workers at the library who got pink slips announcing their layoffs for Sept. 3.

Tragically, her husband lost his job at a gift shop earlier this year. Now the couple, with an 8-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter, must scrape by on savings and unemployment insurance.

"I don't know what to do now. My future is dark," she said.

— Gregory N. Heires