22 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 10, 2014 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com QUEENS LIBRARY WINS GRANT, AWARD BY KATRINA MEDOFF Queens Library was awarded a $400,000 threeyear EVERYONE SUFFERS FROM PAIN regardless of sex, age, ethnicity or occupation. Instead of relying on only pain medication, consider high quality chiropractic care as a primary choice. • Auto accident • Workers compensation • Personal injury • Disc herniation • Neck/Back pain • Headache Chiropractic treatment is very safe and effective for any kind of musculoskeletal problem. CALL FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!! 718-224-8382 Dr. Richard Chang Kim D.C. (Board certifi ed Chiropractor of NY) 23-91 Bell Blvd., Suite 103 • Bayside, NY 11360 (Same suite with Bayside Dental and Acupuncture at Medical Arts Center) Offi ce Hours: M-Th 9 a.m. - 7 p.m., Fri 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., Sat CLOSED, Sun (By Appointment Only) (646)�214-2086 federal grant through the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program. The grant, administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, will aid Queens Library in developing best practices for serving immigrant communities through public libraries. “Immigrants come to Queens from 120 different countries, and almost half the borough speaks a language other than English at home,” library spokeswoman Joanne King said. Staff must be trained to serve immigrants, King said, especially because of cultural barriers. For example, “some cultures fi nd it inappropriate for women to look men in the eye, or vise versa, or to disagree with a fi gure that they feel is an authority,” she said. The library also has to “make the point very strongly that libraries are not government and that we’re here to serve them” since immigrants from some cultures are hesitant to get involved with a government organization, she said. New Americans might have questions that they’re hesitant to verbalize for these reasons, and staff is trained to be sensitive to this issue. Queens Library’s New American Program has been the model for serving immigrants through libraries since the late 70s; libraries from all over the world come to learn about it, King said. Work made possible by the grant will be a “formalization and an extension of that program and will allow Queens Library to share that knowledge more readily through a digital gateway,” King said. Queens Library was also honored with the American Library Association’s Library of the Future Award, with prizes — $1,500 and a 24-karat gold-framed citation of achievement — donated by Information Today Inc. The award was given for the development of Queens Library’s proprietary interface for Google Nexus tablets. Following Hurricane Sandy, Google donated 5,000 tablets to the library so that library customers could borrow them for job development, education and other recovery efforts. For the Nexus tablets to work, they need Wi-Fi, and many Sandy-affected areas didn’t have that, said King. Queens Library had to fi nd a way to make tablets useful to customers whether they had Wi-Fi or not and to make the tablets easy and welcoming for customers to explore, whether or not they had computer training, she said. Queens Library developed its own simplifi ed interface for the tablets and preloaded them with content so that the tablets would be useful even when were offl ine. Initially, the tablets were only available from seven libraries in areas affected by the storm. Central Library in Jamaica and Queens Library in Flushing will join the program in May, and by this summer, tablets will be lent through the program borough-wide. Library cardholders can rent the tablets for free, and all tablets have pre-loaded, library-curated information such as education resources, immigrant resources, job search information, community health information and library resources. Queens Library learned about both national recognitions toward the end of March. “Queens Library heard about both of these awards within a few days of each other, and our staff is always excited to hear about how their hard work is received,” said King. The Queens Library interface makes Google Nexus tablets-for-loan accessible to everyone. Photo courtesy of Queens Library
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