Roxana Benavides, supervising librarian at Sunset Park Library, has been selected to receive the 2015 Sloan Public Service Award from the Fund for the City of New York. Roxana earned this tremendous honor—considered the “Nobel Prize of city government”—for her decades of service to the residents of Sunset Park. Respected by her peers and beloved by her patrons, Roxana has made an impact in the community for more than 20 years.
The award will be granted on June 2 in Cooper Union at 5 pm. On the same day, at 5 pm, a celebration will take place to commemorate the occasion at Sunset Park’s library in Brooklyn.
For over 38 years, this program annually honors six outstanding civil servants whose work performance and commitment to the public transcend not merely the ordinary but the extraordinary-- day after day and year after year. In honoring these winners, the Fund also acknowledges the contributions of the many thousands of dedicated public servants who, with integrity and devotion, perform the work that keeps this complex city running.
Nominees embody the following qualities:
• Extraordinary service delivered with ingenuity, energy, and compassion
• Commitment beyond the call of duty
• Responsiveness to public needs, developing more effective methods of service delivery
• Outstanding and reliable performance, both under the pressures of daily routine and in times of crisis
• Willingness to take risks, if that is what is needed to improve services or correct abuses or inequities
• Ability to adapt to change and provide a continued high standard of service to the public
• Dedication to upholding public interest amidst competing interests, pressures, and demands
1. Congratulations Roxana! There have just been very few librarians recognized with the Sloan Public Service Award, how do you feel about this achievement?
I am honored to have been chosen as one of six public servants to receive a 2015 Sloan Public Service Award from the Fund for the City of New York. This is a great honor that I share with my colleagues at the Sunset Park branch and throughout the entire Brooklyn Public Library system. I will be joining distinguished company, including my Brooklyn Public Library colleague Carrie Banks, a 2010 Sloan Public Service Award recipient.
2. How did this public service passion begin from your librarian standpoint?
When I was growing up in El Salvador, the branch of the Federal Reserve Bank in San Miguel, where my father worked, opened a library. As in many Latin American countries, public libraries were almost non-existent. I fondly remember the library as a very special place, and I will never forget the ever so helpful librarian, Ms. Adita.
Years later, while attending college in the USA, I worked as a page and later as a library assistant at the Borough of Manhattan Community College library. The chief librarian, the late Prof. Lowry, was the first to encourage me to pursue a Master in Library Science degree.
In 1993 I began my rewarding career at Brooklyn Public Library, where people have free and equal access to a wealth of information and resources, and where my passion for public service was first nurtured and continues to grow. I earned my Master in Library Science degree at Queens College in 2004.
3. In addition to being an outstanding librarian and public servant, you also are a strong advocate for the Brooklyn Public Library. What type of roles does this position entail?
As the Neighborhood Library Supervisor at Sunset Park Library, I am responsible for supervising all aspects of library branch services, setting goals and priorities using a collaborative, teamwork-focused approach to ensure the delivery of excellent customer service. I continue to provide direct public service, including programming, class visits and outreach. I also serve as the main point person for communicating and collaborating with library leadership and departments in implementing organizational initiatives, as well as with outside agencies and community organizations in order to provide relevant library services to the diverse communities we serve.
4. Sunset Park is the branch with the largest community of non-English speakers, and it is also the one with the highest number of 0-5 year-old children. What kind of activities has been developed for these communities who participate at the library?
Sunset Park Library is located in one of the most densely populated and diverse neighborhoods in Brooklyn. The branch ranks in Brooklyn Public Library’s top ten in attendance and circulation, and it is #1 in the circulation of Spanish-language materials. We provide robust programming and library services, including tablets and portable hotspots; ESOL classes and conversation groups, including ESOL for Business; knitting; after-school programs; homework help and reading coaching; Reading Is Fundamental programming; Tween and Teen Time; chess club, family movies; a book discussion club; multilingual technology and information literacy; resume writing and job coaching; early literacy programs, including those for children with special needs; bilingual story hours; and more.
5. Lastly, as an example, could you tell us about "Magic Hour”?
La Mágica de los Pequeños is an early childhood and school readiness program taught mainly in Spanish for families with children from birth to age 5, with stories, shared book reading, games, songs, fingerplay, rhymes and fun activities that support the development of early literacy skills and promote reading.
