It Takes a Village: The Librarian at the Center of a Community
By Victoria Kent
On an April afternoon, just behind the plaza that houses the library on Dixwell Avenue in New Haven, a 29-year-old man with multiple gunshot wounds crashed his car. He died later that day.
His death was the third homicide in the span of several days, in a city where only crime seems to make the news.
The community is not immune to the crime outside, but inside of the Stetson Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library, they are protected. Nestled in-between a Smoker’s Convenience Stop and Downtown Pizza, its doors remain open to all.
The library is a safe haven for children who go there after school, because their mothers and grandmothers do not allow them anywhere else. If they want to escape the streets, or have a quiet place to read outside the house, they go to the library.
It’s a place where people wait outside the door to use computers that assist them in job searches. It’s a place where neighbors gather to discuss issues that matter, like the relationship between the police and residents of the city. It’s a place where couples go to relieve the tensions of a fight.
On an April afternoon, just behind the plaza that houses the library on Dixwell Avenue in New Haven, a 29-year-old man with multiple gunshot wounds crashed his car. He died later that day.
His death was the third homicide in the span of several days, in a city where only crime seems to make the news.
The community is not immune to the crime outside, but inside of the Stetson Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library, they are protected. Nestled in-between a Smoker’s Convenience Stop and Downtown Pizza, its doors remain open to all.
The library is a safe haven for children who go there after school, because their mothers and grandmothers do not allow them anywhere else. If they want to escape the streets, or have a quiet place to read outside the house, they go to the library.
It’s a place where people wait outside the door to use computers that assist them in job searches. It’s a place where neighbors gather to discuss issues that matter, like the relationship between the police and residents of the city. It’s a place where couples go to relieve the tensions of a fight.
The Stetson branch is a center for programs and cultural arts, as established by branch manager and matriarch Diane Brown, 57, a lifelong resident of Newhalville.
Seated at her desk, in a crisp black blazer, ivory pearls, and rubber flip-flops, she is dressed for both jobs – mother and librarian.
She spends the day reaching out to potential after school programs, and nurturing those already in existence. It is not uncommon for her to buy the snacks provided to the children.
Brown herself facilitated the numerous programs held in the Stetson branch of the NHFPL. It was due to the needs of her community she made the library a host for such programs. Programs like tutoring, healthy cooking, cultural awareness, martial arts and video journalism.
The programs are designed to serve as a positive force to all residents, especially the youth.
“It doesn’t matter what religion you are, what ethnicity you are, what your belief system is, it doesn’t matter what your family make up is - lesbian, gay – it doesn’t matter. This is a neutral place; it’s a positive place where everyone is welcome,” Brown said.
It’s also a place where Brown wishes to promote the image of diversity. Though the library is in a predominantly African American community, she believes the library should reflect many makeups. She starts with her staff, which currently employs 2 white males, students from her time as an adjunct professor at Southern Connecticut State University.
“I think it’s important for me to not just talk about it, but be about it,” she says.
Seated at her desk, in a crisp black blazer, ivory pearls, and rubber flip-flops, she is dressed for both jobs – mother and librarian.
She spends the day reaching out to potential after school programs, and nurturing those already in existence. It is not uncommon for her to buy the snacks provided to the children.
Brown herself facilitated the numerous programs held in the Stetson branch of the NHFPL. It was due to the needs of her community she made the library a host for such programs. Programs like tutoring, healthy cooking, cultural awareness, martial arts and video journalism.
The programs are designed to serve as a positive force to all residents, especially the youth.
“It doesn’t matter what religion you are, what ethnicity you are, what your belief system is, it doesn’t matter what your family make up is - lesbian, gay – it doesn’t matter. This is a neutral place; it’s a positive place where everyone is welcome,” Brown said.
It’s also a place where Brown wishes to promote the image of diversity. Though the library is in a predominantly African American community, she believes the library should reflect many makeups. She starts with her staff, which currently employs 2 white males, students from her time as an adjunct professor at Southern Connecticut State University.
“I think it’s important for me to not just talk about it, but be about it,” she says.
This is a message she strives to communicate with the library’s young people. She describes literacy and knowledge of self as her main goals for the youth.
Literacy assures students are capable of reading on their own, and knowledge of self teaches them about who they are and what history says about their background as African Americans.
“You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been. We have a whole thousands and thousands of black history before MLK and Civil Rights,” Brown said.
Many in the community see Brown as a unifying force. A librarian who is focused less on books and circulation and more on creating valuable opportunities for youth and a safe haven for community members.
Newhallville residents like Sean Reeves, the co-founder of S.P.O.R.T. Academy, a non-profit chess program designed to take youth off the streets, run out of the Stetson branch, expressed his appreciation at a public hearing weeks earlier.
“The knowledge inside of that library is life changing," Reeves said. "It gives the kids the tools to want to change themselves."
However, declining circulation statistics nearly saw the branch close in 2008, when crime was particularly high in the area.
Literacy assures students are capable of reading on their own, and knowledge of self teaches them about who they are and what history says about their background as African Americans.
“You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been. We have a whole thousands and thousands of black history before MLK and Civil Rights,” Brown said.
Many in the community see Brown as a unifying force. A librarian who is focused less on books and circulation and more on creating valuable opportunities for youth and a safe haven for community members.
Newhallville residents like Sean Reeves, the co-founder of S.P.O.R.T. Academy, a non-profit chess program designed to take youth off the streets, run out of the Stetson branch, expressed his appreciation at a public hearing weeks earlier.
“The knowledge inside of that library is life changing," Reeves said. "It gives the kids the tools to want to change themselves."
However, declining circulation statistics nearly saw the branch close in 2008, when crime was particularly high in the area.
Just because the branch doesn’t check out a lot of books I couldn’t say this is not a well functioning library,” Brown said.
This is when Brown talks about her wedding – to the community.
After a threat to shut down the Stetson branch saw a tremendous response from the Newhallville residents, Brown received this support not from the library system, but from the members of her community.
She recalls their courtship.
“I went to the community and said, ‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘We don't want you to leave and we don't want the library to close.’ And I said, ‘I will stand and fight, but I need support.’ That’s when we got married and we fought together,” she said.
They fought. And they won.
The library doors would remain open to all.
“When the war and the fight is all over I went home and sat on the end of my bed and cried and said, ‘Ok God, where do I go from here? What do I do now?’” said Brown.
Once she saw the community take ownership over her and the branch, she knew if they could not circulate books, they would have to supplement with programming. She contacted organizations and agencies in the area, and has yet to stop.
On the wall behind her is a portrait of a woman in round, thick-rimmed glasses with parted lips, as if ready to speak. It’s a painting of Civil Rights activist Angela Davis. Brown’s lips are parted too. She is an activist in her own right, ready to speak about the injustice outside, and keeping the peace inside.
For Brown, “Community means family. It means a village where everyone has a role.”
After a threat to shut down the Stetson branch saw a tremendous response from the Newhallville residents, Brown received this support not from the library system, but from the members of her community.
She recalls their courtship.
“I went to the community and said, ‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘We don't want you to leave and we don't want the library to close.’ And I said, ‘I will stand and fight, but I need support.’ That’s when we got married and we fought together,” she said.
They fought. And they won.
The library doors would remain open to all.
“When the war and the fight is all over I went home and sat on the end of my bed and cried and said, ‘Ok God, where do I go from here? What do I do now?’” said Brown.
Once she saw the community take ownership over her and the branch, she knew if they could not circulate books, they would have to supplement with programming. She contacted organizations and agencies in the area, and has yet to stop.
On the wall behind her is a portrait of a woman in round, thick-rimmed glasses with parted lips, as if ready to speak. It’s a painting of Civil Rights activist Angela Davis. Brown’s lips are parted too. She is an activist in her own right, ready to speak about the injustice outside, and keeping the peace inside.
For Brown, “Community means family. It means a village where everyone has a role.”
If I died today or tomorrow I want to say I exemplified what a village looks like.”
This village is one where Ms. Brown was born and raised – between Newhalville and Dixwell. She recalls growing up on Division Street where the original Stetson branch was located. She often spent time in the library with her sisters, because their mother made them.
The librarian revealed that she was never a “cuddle up with a book kind of person.” Though she was not a bookworm, she always demonstrated excellent grades in school. Her strong academics carried into her graduate degree at SCSU where she was a Bill Gates Scholar.
Brown, who came into the library system in 2002 and became permanent branch manager in 2004 recalls her now beloved position as one she initially rejected. When former director, the late James Welbourne asked if she would like to be a librarian she simply said no.
It was not until he convinced her that her love of the community and programming could shape the library into a kind of cultural center, a neighborhood hub, that she went back to school for a master’s degree in library sciences – a degree she was meant to earn.
“You know how everybody has a purpose in life? People have said it all different kinds of ways. How blessed is the person who finds their mission and accepts it. This is really my mission, and I’m happy," said Brown of her role at the library.
In one word to describe the library, Brown chooses home.
While she hopes they will someday have a bigger space to call home, not likely to be funded by the Byrne Grant, she is proud of their location, marked by a mural that spells READ.
“We were trying to get it to look like a library because were in a plaza and no one ever knows. Is that a library? Oh I rode right by and didn’t even know it was a library,” she said of typical reactions.
The librarian revealed that she was never a “cuddle up with a book kind of person.” Though she was not a bookworm, she always demonstrated excellent grades in school. Her strong academics carried into her graduate degree at SCSU where she was a Bill Gates Scholar.
Brown, who came into the library system in 2002 and became permanent branch manager in 2004 recalls her now beloved position as one she initially rejected. When former director, the late James Welbourne asked if she would like to be a librarian she simply said no.
It was not until he convinced her that her love of the community and programming could shape the library into a kind of cultural center, a neighborhood hub, that she went back to school for a master’s degree in library sciences – a degree she was meant to earn.
“You know how everybody has a purpose in life? People have said it all different kinds of ways. How blessed is the person who finds their mission and accepts it. This is really my mission, and I’m happy," said Brown of her role at the library.
In one word to describe the library, Brown chooses home.
While she hopes they will someday have a bigger space to call home, not likely to be funded by the Byrne Grant, she is proud of their location, marked by a mural that spells READ.
“We were trying to get it to look like a library because were in a plaza and no one ever knows. Is that a library? Oh I rode right by and didn’t even know it was a library,” she said of typical reactions.
Artist Katro Storm finalized the mural seen today, originally commissioned by a Yale student, only to be abandoned when the community disapproved of her ideas. It’s now a depiction of people tied to the Dixwell community.
Within each letter are portraits of public figures – athletes and celebrities – even Brown. Former New Haven Mayor, the late John C. Daniels, the first African American mayor, born and raised in the projects is featured. Michael Jackson, who had died at the time, is also there at the request of the kids.
“The community loves it. It’s never been scarred, touched; no one has ever done anything to it. The community protects it. It’s theirs,” Brown said.
The significance of the mural prompted Marissa Ladevaia-Jalbert, a former student of Brown’s at SCSU, to publish a book about it for her senior capstone project. Alongside Brown, they worked tirelessly to document every name and image incorporated.
Through this positive transformation of community within the library walls, Brown wishes to change the public’s perception of Newhallville.
“I don’t believe in putting anything negative out into the world,” she said of the constant media attention surrounding crime.
Perhaps Brown can find hope in a trend of recently published articles (here, here and here) shedding positive light on the Dixwell/Newhallville neighborhood.
As for her future at the library, Brown plans to make it a permanent home.
Beneath a smirk she said, “I’ll probably die here.”
Photographs by Victoria Kent
Within each letter are portraits of public figures – athletes and celebrities – even Brown. Former New Haven Mayor, the late John C. Daniels, the first African American mayor, born and raised in the projects is featured. Michael Jackson, who had died at the time, is also there at the request of the kids.
“The community loves it. It’s never been scarred, touched; no one has ever done anything to it. The community protects it. It’s theirs,” Brown said.
The significance of the mural prompted Marissa Ladevaia-Jalbert, a former student of Brown’s at SCSU, to publish a book about it for her senior capstone project. Alongside Brown, they worked tirelessly to document every name and image incorporated.
Through this positive transformation of community within the library walls, Brown wishes to change the public’s perception of Newhallville.
“I don’t believe in putting anything negative out into the world,” she said of the constant media attention surrounding crime.
Perhaps Brown can find hope in a trend of recently published articles (here, here and here) shedding positive light on the Dixwell/Newhallville neighborhood.
As for her future at the library, Brown plans to make it a permanent home.
Beneath a smirk she said, “I’ll probably die here.”
Photographs by Victoria Kent