48 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • JANUARY 9, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
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Photo courtesy of Queens College
Queens College Alumna Lauren Comito is named a 2019 Librarian of the Year by Library Journal.
Queens College alumna named
2019 Librarian of the Year
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
A Queens College alumna has been
named 2019 Librarian of the Year by
Library Journal in recognition of her signifi
cant contributions to advancing the
profession and its mission.
Lauren Comito earned her master’s in
library science from Queens College in
2007. She shares this year’s designation
with her colleague and business partner,
Christian Zabriskie, with whom she
founded Urban Librarians Unite (ULU)
— an advocacy group that supports
libraries and librarians in urban environments.
Comito and Zabriskie were cited for
their belief in the possibility of making a
diff erence and for having the patience and
professional alliances to bring their vision
to fruition. Comito is the neighborhood
library supervisor at the Leonard Branch
of the Brooklyn Public Library.
“We congratulate alumna Lauren
Comito. We’re proud of the work she
does at Brooklyn Public Library and as a
co-founder of the advocacy organization,
Urban Librarians Unite,” said Queens
College Interim President William
Tramontano. “Th is honor confi rms what
we already know: that our Graduate
School of Library and Information Studies
prepares students for meaningful, community
oriented careers.”
While at Queens College Graduate
School of Library and Information
Studies, Comito took a job as a librarian
trainee at QPL and moved through
the ranks for the next 11 years — as a YA
librarian, doing outreach for the library’s
Job and Business Academy, and serving as
an assistant branch manager.
Comito and Zabriskie’s energetic grassroots
activism have encompassed causes
ranging from annual funding advocacy
for the three New York City library
systems to services and resources for
unaccompanied minors and immigrants
across the country to an inclusive, innovative
conference aimed at front-line library
workers, according to the Library Journal.
“When we get mad, at ULU we do
things,” Zabriskie told Library Journal,
“because we can.”
Nick Buron, chief librarian and senior
vice president of QPL, who indirectly
supervised both Zabriskie and Comito,
said, “Lauren and Christian’s dedication
to libraries, librarians and all those
who support our institution is beyond
bounds. For 10 years, I have witnessed
them spending long nights, rallying in the
rain, and literally using a megaphone to
scream the values and necessity of libraries
and their dedicated workers.”
Queens Centers for Progress
would like to thank
JGS High School Jamaica Rotary Club
Paypro Corporation Queens Distance Runners
for collecting toys and spreading cheer this holiday
season to the boys and girls at QCP’s Children’s Center.
Queens Centers for Progress
81-15 164th Street Jamaica, NY 11432 718.380.3000
www.queenscp.org
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