CURRENT POSITION Neighborhood Library Supervisor/Branch Manager, Macon Branch, Brooklyn Public Library, NY DEGREE MLIS, Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus, 2009 FOLLOW Instagram @my.librarian_life; linkedin.com/in/nicole-bryan-41511212a Photo by Gregg Richards

We Before Me

When Nicole Bryan took on the position of Neighborhood Library Supervisor for the Macon Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) in January 2020, she could not have imagined guiding her branch through a pandemic. In those two years, however, Bryan developed outdoor community programming, a systemwide special edition library card, and programs to reinforce community connections. Through it all, she says, she committed to “putting the we before me.” 

When libraries closed their doors that March, Bryan faced two challenges: being able to check in with her staff regularly and ensuring that the community knew the library was there for them.

While providing transactional and virtual services safely fulfilled immediate needs, the closure of the physical building created a barrier for residents to access all of the resources they needed. For Bryan, there was only one solution: “We made it our mission to be outside with the community.” She wanted a space for people to safely gather, access tangible resources such as books and COVID information, and offer in-person companion programs to the library’s ongoing virtual programming. With the support of the city, library leadership, and staff, Bryan arranged for the street outside the library to be closed to traffic, moving library materials and programming outdoors—and threw a block skating party that doubled as census assistance, with forms for the public to take home and complete. 

Bryan also spearheaded a special edition library card to celebrate Black history in Brooklyn and raise awareness for the library’s Dionne Mack-Harvin African American Heritage Center. 

With support from BPL administration, the card’s use went from branch-specific to systemwide, complete with a design competition open to anyone with ties to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood and Brooklyn. She chaired a committee that developed programs such as craft making and immersive music events to promote the new card and focus on Black heritage. Bryan also organized systemwide training for all staff on how to champion the new card initiative. The card launched on Juneteenth 2021, the first year the holiday was officially recognized in the state of New York. Nearly a year later, it is still one of the most popular BPL cards.  

Through all the changes, Bryan remained in close contact with her staff. She kept lines of communication open through weekly meetings, virtually and then in person when they returned to the building. “That’s the biggest part of it,” says Bryan, “ensuring that they heard that their feelings are affirmed and that they are human beings first, and then we do the work. That’s what made everything we did very successful.”