In honor of Pride Month, Lab/Shul’s Director of Community Organizing & Engagement, Sam Hipschman, sat down with Lab/Shul Partner Jill Rothstein who is helping the New York Public Library create LGBTQ+ resources and programs.

Where do you live?
I live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

What do you love about where you live?
I love being close to two parks and being able to live with so many trees right around my building. I also love being right across the way from the Met Museum.

What do you do for work?
I’m the Chief Librarian for the NYPL’s Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library that serves people with print disabilities.

Cool! How do you incorporate LGBTQIA activism into your work?
I’m really lucky to have a lot of freedom to do a lot of things at the Library. I’m a part of the Innovation Project. That led me to be a co-leader of the Transforming NYPL Project, which is a group run by staff of trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming and ally staff that has worked to run staff trainings on etiquette and awareness for the trans community and put together a bunch of public-facing programs. These include the gender creative dramatic play for kids, author talks, trans oral history project listening party, and other things. We also put out a resource list of community programs for TGNC people and a big book list. I’m really happy that after a lot of work, we were able to roll out mandatory all-staff trainings to support TGNC people throughout the library system.

What’s on the big book list?!
Well, this year our book list of 100 Essential TGNC reads is featured on the NYPL homepage. You can also click here to see the entire unabridged list.

What are some of your favorite titles?
Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote, Snapdragon by Kat Leyh, Spy Stuff by Matthew J. Metzger, and Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin, and Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai.

Why do you think activism through NYPL is so important?
Libraries are one of the most important community spaces and bastions of free speech and self-directed learning, and are so important to LGBTQ-identified kids and newly out adults who might be relying on us to ensure equal representation and equal access to affirming information.

What is your favorite way to celebrate Pride?
In the past, I’ve loved going to Pride with Lab/Shul and with the saints posters. It feels really special being a part of that group. I’m hoping to go to Riis Beach to celebrate Pride!