School's Out! Time for a Pop Quiz

Episode Transcript

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Krissa Corbett Cavouras One sunny Saturday afternoon in June, our producer Virginia went to Central Library and talked to a young library patron: Madison Franklin, age seven. She was there with her mom for this year’s Summer Reading kickoff celebration.

Madison Franklin I made a card for the library, for its birthday.

Virginia Marshall Oh, that’s awesome. How old is the library?

Madison Franklin Twenty-five ...

Virginia Marshall One hundred twenty-five, actually! And, what is that you’re eating?

Madison Franklin A cupcake.

Virginia Marshall Where’d you get that? 

Madison Franklin A lady was handing out some cupcakes.

Virginia Marshall Yeah, for the birthday party, right?

Adwoa Adusei It was indeed a birthday party for BPL, celebrating 125 years. And it was also the start of an annual program called Summer Reading. Here’s another young library patron who was there that Saturday in early June: Dylan Douglas, age nine.

Virginia Marshall What do you like to do at the library?

Dylan Douglas I like to take a look at books. I like reading biographies and fiction.

Virginia Marshall Do you think you’re going to read books this summer?

Dylan Douglas I don’t know ...

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Well, let’s hope Dylan does come back to the library and read! Since, that’s kind of the point. At the kickoff celebration, amid the face painting and card making and live performances like the one you’re hearing now from a group called Moosika! … the goal is very clear: to get kids to come to the library, check out some books and read.

Kevin Kelley It's not just that like a child can read, but it's like, does the child love to read?

Adwoa Adusei This is Kevin Kelley, the Coordinator of School Age Services at BPL. So, he knows a lot about what it takes to get kids invested in a book.

Kevin Kelley It’s the biggest indicator of their future success in life, in literally like every aspect of their life. And so one of the goals, one of my big goals for summer reading is always, how do I connect that young person with that book or the series that's going to carry them through the rest of their life? 

Krissa Corbett Cavouras So, Kevin credits Sailor Moon with starting a life-long love of reading — and I think all of us can remember that first book or series we absolutely fell in love with. For me, the Narnia chronicles by CS Lewis. I think I read all seven books over and over and over again starting at about age eight or nine, all the way through my teens. 

Adwoa Adusei Oh yeah, totally! I don’t know if it was my first literary love, but I remember loving Ann Rinaldi historical fiction novels when I was younger and just like devouring those.

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Oh my god, a librarian in the making. That's amazing. But summer reading this year is not just about books, for Kevin.

Kevin Kelley Then another big goal very, very specifically for this year is to welcome young people back into the library after several years of fraught relationships with being a student. And the one way that we can go about unpacking that is to re-establish relationships with young people who are now potentially old enough to not remember having come to story time with their caregivers or who just don't have a library practice or a relationship with the library whatsoever.

Adwoa Adusei So, if you’re a parent or caregiver to a young person, bring them to your local library this summer. Even if you live outside of Brooklyn, you can bet that your public library has something fun going on this summer.

Krissa Corbett Cavouras At BPL, we’ve got a summer-long celebrations, with author talks and performers, book lists, stickers and fun giveaways at every single branch in the borough. So, check the calendar of events at BKLYN LIB [dot] org [slash] summer. And then, extra special for this year ...

Kevin Kelley The Brooklyn Public Library is giving away thousands and thousands of books all summer long to children and teens…. Everybody gets a gift on their birthday. And this is Brooklyn Public Library's birthday, so everybody gets a gift. And that gift this year is books. And we are so excited, and I am so excited for that. 

Krissa Corbett Cavouras I’m Krissa Corbett Cavouras.

Adwoa Adusei And I’m Adwoa Adusei. You’re listening to Borrowed, stories that start at the library.

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Adwoa Adusei Okay, so since this is the last episode in our season, we wanted to have a bit of fun! Listeners, welcome to Borrowed: The Quiz Show Edition.

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Adwoa and I are going to ask each other questions about BPL and library history.

Adwoa Adusei And of course we have sound effects! This is the sound we’ll play for correct answers ...

[Musical synth sound]

Adwoa Adusei [Laughs] ... and for wrong answers ...

[Sad trumpet sound]

Krissa Corbett Cavouras [Laughs] That's amazing.

Adwoa Adusei Are you ready, Krissa?

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Yes, but what’s the prize?

Adwoa Adusei I don't know, I mean, maybe the winner gets bragging rights, of course.

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Or loser has to record all the ad breaks for next season. Okay, I’m going to go first. When and where was the first recorded Summer Reading program? 

Adwoa Adusei Like, in the world?  

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Yeah.

Adwoa Adusei Oh, dang it, I did read this! [Laughs] I read it but I did not retain anything. Um. Oh, golly. Early, or late 1800s? Wait ... yeah?

[Bell ding]

Adwoa Adusei Ooh! Thank you! I don’t remember where it was … 

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Okay, so you get half a point. The answer is Cleveland Ohio in—wait for it—1896, the same year that Brooklyn Public Library was founded! Librarian Linda Eastman created the Cleveland Library League for children, which encouraged kids to log the books that they read over the summer. So, it’s safe to say that summer reading has been around for as long as we have.

Adwoa Adusei Awesome. Okay, my turn! Name this artist!

Reading is good for your mind, not to mention your pocket. [Go ahead, so rock it.] It's free. [Yes, very.] At the library. Yo, you can expand your vocabulary. Knowledge is the key that opens any doors. So why don't you go visit your ... library? 

Krissa Corbett Cavouras [Laughs] Okay! I am absolutely going to show my age with my answer and I don't have a problem with that at all. As a child of the 90s, I'm going to say that was Salt-N-Pepa.

[Musical synth sound]

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Yes!

Adwoa Adusei You are absolutely correct! That was Salt-N-Pepa! So in 1991 ,BPL co-ordinated a series of 30-second PSAs with rappers talking about how great the library is. These ran on radio stations across the city, and even though BPL created the PSAs, we had no record of what they were or the recordings themselves. Just a letter in our archives that mentioned them at all. It took our staff a while to track down these recordings. We had our Chief Librarian, VP of Marketing and head of Outreach Department on the case! Let’s just say it was a welcome diversion for those folks who’ve been having the same busy, hectic, stressful year as the rest of us. Anyway, the recordings include PSAs from Sweet T, MC Lyte, KRS-One, Spinderella & The Wiz, EPMD, Dana Dane and more … and the audio file ended up in the American Library Association Archive at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign! Thanks to their digitizing efforts we’re able to play them here for you. And I feel like we should play one more because it took so much effort to find these.

Dana Dane Buff it, buff it, peep it. Yeah, it's me. The D-A-N-A-D-A-N-E. Here to tell how I got my expertise. See, partially it's because I like to read. Now, if you didn't understand that, I'm the rapper Dana Dane and I like to read. So do as I do. Support your local library. It's only right. Education is the key. This is brought to you by the American Library Association. Peace.

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Absolutely jamming at my desk to that one! [Laughter] Um, that was so great. And, you know, and this is a bit of a tangent—but I wanted to mention that these recordings represent a time in our history when the public libraries in the city were really struggling. In our episode about libraries and the internet earlier this season, we talked to Donald Kaplan, who was head of Marketing at BPL in the 1990s. Here’s what he had to say about the state of our branches then:

Donald Kaplan There were some parts of the borough where there were street gangs that didn’t like the library, and we had a couple of incidents. The Carnegie buildings were targeted. You know, if a building was closed, the wiring and the pipe and all get stripped out for the copper. But at the same time that you had this stuff, the the branches were and probably still are a lifeline for so many people in so many communities. And we're heavily, heavily used.

Krissa Corbett Cavouras So, these recordings were an attempt to reach out to the community and get them excited and involved in libraries again. And it worked! Donald said thanks to their efforts to create a grassroots movement of library lovers, New York Coty libraries were able to lobby for more funding from city government. Donald said they got to the point where the mayor was complaining that he couldn’t go anywhere without someone talking to him about library funding.

Adwoa Adusei All thanks to Salt-N-Pepa! 

Krissa Corbett Cavouras And, speaking of rappers and summer reading … My next question for you Adwoa: Who was the guest speaker and performer at Brooklyn Public Library’s 2008 Summer Reading Kickoff?

Adwoa Adusei ... You’ve got to be kidding me. [Laughter]

Krissa Corbett Cavouras What, you don’t remember?

Adwoa Adusei Where was I in 2008? I was ... oh my, God, I was in upstate New York. So, no.

[Sad trumpet sound]

Adwoa Adusei [Laughter] Oh okay, thank you, thank you so much, Virginia.

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Okay, I’m going to tell you. The answer was KRS-One! Who we heard was in our lineup for the promo spots too. So, he gave an incredible speech on the steps of Central Library in 2008 and remembered the few years when he was unhoused as a teen, where he would sleep in Prospect Park’s derelict bandshell. He talked about going to the library growing up. Here’s a clip.

KRS-One We used to walk through those doors in the early 70s ... go through those doors right there. My mother would show me, she said, “This is the gateway out of all this madness.” So, when I left home at about fifteen, sixteen years old, I came here. This was a safe place to be. And to be here, you've got to have a book in front of you. You got to read something. So I go, I get a couple of books, and I get the books that I want to read. I wrote my first album here. If there’s one success that this library can claim, it would be me. Because I have no other start in my life other than this place right here. This is where I started, right in this place right here.

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Wow.

Adwoa Adusei I know, now I wish I had been there. That was great. [Laughs]

Krissa Corbett Cavouras I know. And you know I like that — we mentioned that he was talking about years that he was unhoused, and you know Prospect Park, Central Library, the park is our backyard. So, the fact that he was right there and walking through those doors is just hugely connected. And he ended that event by reciting a poem he’d written called “You Must Learn." So, let’s take a listen.

KRS-One I believe that if you're teaching history, deal with straight up facts, no mystery.

Teach the student what needs to be taught, because Black and white kids, we both take shots.

When one doesn't know about the other one's culture, ignorance swoops down like a vulture.

You don't know you ain't just a janitor. No one told you about Benjamin Banneker—a brilliant Black man that invented the almanac.

Can't you see what KRS is coming at? With Eli Whitney, Haile Selassie, Granville Woods made the Walkie Talkie.

Lewis Latimer improved on Edison. Charles Drew did a lot for medicine.

Garrett Morgan made the traffic lights. Harriet Tubman freed the slaves at night.

Madam C.J. Walker made the straightening comb. But you won't know this if you weren't shown.

The point I'm getting at, it might be harsh—is we're just walking around brain washed!

What I'm saying is not to diss a man. We need a 2008 school system, one that returns our spirit in a hurry, and get to the local library. You must learn.

[Applause]

Thanks for listening to me, y'all. Thanks for coming out. I want to thank the Brooklyn Public Library for being my home for so many years. Thank you very much. Long live the Brooklyn Public Library.

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Tearing up here, at my desk.

Adwoa Adusei I know chills, I got chills. All right, so, moving away from rappers and Summer Reading and returning to earlier BPL history ... Krissa, what was the first library branch built in Brooklyn? 

Krissa Corbett Cavouras [Laughs] I know this, I think!

Adwoa Adusei Ugh, Gad.

Krissa Corbett Cavouras I know, I'm sorry. I think it was Bedford Library.

[Musical synth sound]

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Yes!

Adwoa Adusei You are correct! The branch opened on December 20, 1897, in the old P.S. 3 on Bedford Avenue. It moved several times in the succeeding years before finally settling into a new Carnegie building on Franklin Avenue in 1905, where it remains today. Okay, I’m not going to let you off this easy … what is the most recent branch built in Brooklyn?

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Oh! Okay, the most recent new branch is the Adams Street Library, [bell ding] which we opened in the DUMBO/Vinegar Hill/Farragut area near the Brooklyn Bridge.

Adwoa Adusei You are correct. Adams Street! of course. we have a whole episode this season about our newest branch, which is located in a former factory in DUMBO. But if you answered Brooklyn Heights you also would have gotten a point! So a bit of a trick question. Because that library building is brand new, though it sits on the same spot as the former Brooklyn Heights Branch, which many older Brooklynites might remember as the Business Library in Cadman Plaza. The new Brooklyn Heights library has been years in the making. In 2014, BPL was faced with 300 million dollars of unmet capital needs, with outdated HVAC systems and buildings in need of elevators, ramps, and more technology. So, BPL decided to sell the land to a private developer for 52 million dollars, which meant that an enormous new library could be built on the site, with condos above. In addition, the project created 114 units of affordable housing and 40 million dollars from the sale went to update and repair nine of our other branches, including a brand new library in Sunset Park which will be combined with affordable housing units.

Krissa Corbett Cavouras So, with the addition of Adams Street Library, we now we have a total of 61 locations in our system! I have been to 57 of them.

Adwoa Adusei Wow.

Krissa Corbett Cavouras I know. I won’t name the libraries I have yet to visit because I don’t want to hurt their feelings. How many do you think you’ve visited, Adwoa?

Adwoa Adusei I thought it was ten, I was like, I dunno … but it’s actually 21!

Krissa Corbett Cavouras [Laughs] All right! Twenty-one, pretty good! So we recently got to talk to a Brooklynite who is not affiliated with the library but who has been trying to visit every single branch of the library since 1977 … and Virginia got to talk to her!

Gail Monsegue Good afternoon, my name is Gail Monsegue, and I'm a lifelong Brooklyn Public Library addict. I'm calling right now from the Brooklyn Public's newest library, Brooklyn Heights, which opened on June 8, 2022. 

Virginia Marshall And does that make your last branch?

Gail Monsegue Ah, yes. I came to New York in 1977, just a day after the blackout. I'm from Trinidad originally, so my grandmother would always make sure that we visited the library weekly in order to partake of all the beautiful books that we can read. So when I moved to New York and I arrived home, the first thing I asked my mom was, "Where's the library?" And she said, it's around the corner. From my house, to the traffic light, cross, and the library is right there. So that was my first forray into the Brooklyn Public Library doors.

Virginia Marshall What was it like walking into the doors that first time?

Gail Monsegue Well, it was very mystifying because it was so small. I'm used to large libraries over multi-layer floors. So when I walked in there, it was one level from the back to the front and from the front to the back. But because I had memorized the Dewey Decimal system, it was easy to navigate. And I would wander around the little rows and see what they had to offer.

[Music]

Gail Monsegue I got my driver's lisence in May of 1986, so I realized I didn't have to hop the bus or hop the train. So in 1986, I said I'm going to visit all of the libraries. The most difficult ones to locate were the ones in Dyker Heights and in Bay Ridge, because many times those buildings are so small and unobtrusive. And were you not looking for the signs, you could blow right by them. I think I finished that area the summer of 2019. 

Virginia Marshall That's wonderful, and so I must ask, do you have a favorite branch? 

Gail Monsegue Well, it depends on what I'm going for. If I want architecture, at the moment, I would say Brooklyn Heights. It's very Midcentury modern. When it comes to antiquity, I would say any of the Carnegie libraries. Whether it is in Arlington, whether it is in Park Slope, which is now under renovation. If I'm going for ambiance and a very calm environment, I would say sitting in the entrance table at Adams when you can overlook the water. It is the most calming, environment of any of the libraries. and I think right now saying that, there will be a few people who will be vying for the table right there. 

Virginia Marshall You gave away your secret!

Gail Monsegue Yes.  

Adwoa Adusei Okay, this has been a fun episode. We've been tying in some of the episodes from this past season. You know, the sounds of the library and the dawn of the internet. And last month's episode was about the history of banned books in America. Which felt like a natural segue into thinking about this episode, which was all about books. But we also wanted to make sure to plug the Mali Magic program. It's an interactive website built by Google Arts& Culture in collaboration with BPL and several other organizations, including SAVAMA, which is under the leadership of Dr. Abdel Kader Haidara, who almost single-handedly during the 2012 occupation of Mali by jihadists, saved thousands of Malian manuscripts, some dating as far back as the 1400s. Dr. Haidara and his team are truly on the front lines of knowledge preservation, and we'll put a link to the interactive Mali Magic program in our show notes. 

Krissa Corbett Cavouras And, we have made an audio walking tour of real and fictional literary sites all across Brooklyn. There are now 32 stops on the tour, which includes famous writers from history like Walt Whitman, Marianne Moore, Richard Wright … and modern writers, too, like Jason Reynolds, NK Jemisin, Mary HK Choi and more. The audio tour is hosted on an app called Otocast. We’ll put a link in our show notes so you can download the tour, for free! The audio tour is written and produced by Virginia Marshall and Fritzi Bodenheimer, and features the voices of two additional colleagues Raquel Penzo and Jack Cavicchi. 

Adwoa Adusei Our list of book recommendations for this episode is a list of 125 essential Brooklyn books! One of my favorites on the list is Bright Lines by Tanwi Nandini Islam. It's about an Indian-American family, first generation as well as the parents who are immigrants. And they live in Fort Greene, and itt was one of the earliest books I read in my BPL career, and it’s still a fav. It’s actually on our literary walking tour, too!

Krissa Corbett Cavouras And I cannot miss that Julián is a Mermaid is on this list because it’s written by a friend of a friend, but also my son’s name is Julian and my older son loves mermaids. Basically his favorite mythical creature in the world are mermaids. So, Julián is a Mermaid is a perennial favorite in our house and is just such a specific moment in time with the Coney Island Mermaid parade and I just love it. 

[Music]

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Listeners, this is the end of our fifth season of Borrowed. Thank you, thank you for sticking with us and listening. We’ll take a break this summer and will come back in the fall with another mini-series you won’t want to miss.

Adwoa Adusei But podcasts are not taking a break! Because we just launched a new podcast for kids. It’s called Page Flippers Take on the World and it’s a wacky library show for kids ages four to ten and their grownups. The goal of the show is to introduce kids to the world of careers and encourage a love of reading. And of course, there are lots of jokes and great songs to keep young listeners entertained. So, we thought we’d end this episode by playing a bit of the first episode of Page Flippers Take on the World. And if you like what you hear, go ahead and subscribe on your podcast app of choice. Show us some love by rating the new show — and share it with your friends. Okay, take it away, Rachel and Sheneatha!

Sheneatha You’re listening to Page Flippers Take on the World from Brooklyn Public Library: a podcast where kids save the day by exploring their interests, discovering new books and talking to real live experts! If you can take over the show, you can take on the world!   

[Sounds of library and then a door opening]

Sheneatha Hey, Rachel!  

Rachel [In British accent] Why hello, Sheneatha! 

Sheneatha Uh, Rachel? Why are you wearing a trench coat and moustache in the library? 

Rachel [In British accent] Shh! I don’t know what you are talking about. I’m absolutely not Rachel at all. So strange that you would think that! 

Sheneatha Your Brooklyn Public Library ID is around your neck. It says you’re a children’s librarian and your name is Rachel ...

Rachel [In British accent] Who put that around my neck? Perhaps it was when I was busy writing this super secret message that I have right here ...

Sheneatha A secret message? [Sound of paper crackling] This paper is blank. 

Rachel [In British accent] A-ha! That’s what you think! [Whispering] I have written it in white crayon! Take these watercolors here and paint over the letters and, viola! A secret message, revealed! 

Sheneatha Okay ... if you say so. I’ll paint bit of purple, a splash of blue … wait, I can see the message through the paint! It says… "Brooklyn Public Library is now fine free!” Rachel, this shouldn’t be a secret message, everyone should know this! 

Rachel [In British accent] They should indeed! [In regular voice] Brooklyn Public Library is now fine free for all. Check it out, kids and grownups! [In British accent again]  I was just practicing my spectacular stealth and super secret spy skills! Say that three times fast. How do you think I did? 

Sheneatha I think you might need to work on it just a bit. Maybe read a spy book, or talk to an expert? You know what? We need a Page Flipper meeting and we need one now. 

Rachel [In regular voice] How should we get there? Book Chute? Tunnel? Secret Staircase? 

Rachel and Sheneatha Book chute! 

Rachel Hey! You all out there ... want to come with us? Just close your eyes and ...  

[Sliding sound as we travel down the magic book chute] 

? Theme Song Lyrics ?

Kid I'm really good at cooking!

Rachel That's so cool. Maybe one day you'd like to work as a chef. Or own a restaurant. Or write cookbooks!

Kid I can draw a really amazing monster.

Kid I'm really good at painting.

Sheneatha Wow! Maybe you'd like to be an illustrator for books. Or work as a computer animator for movies or video games!

Chorus Page Flippers take on the world! x 4

Sheneatha I can do so many things! I read about the things I dream. I flip pages like a chef flips pancakes. I'm a Page Flipper, I can do anything!

Chorus Page Flippers take on the world! x 2

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Borrowed is brought to you by Brooklyn Public Library and is hosted by me and Adwoa Adusei. You can find a transcript, as well as the full book list on our website: BKLYN Library [dot] org [slash] podcasts.

Adwoa Adusei This episode was produced and written by Virginia Marshall, with help from Fritzi Bodenheimer, Jennifer Proffitt and Robin Lester Kenton. Our music composer is Billy Libby. Meryl Friedman designed our logo.

Krissa Corbett Cavouras Borrowed will be back in the fall. Until then, you’ve got a whole summer to read.