{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/086348h13r/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Chantal Antoine Oral History"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSummary of full Unterview\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eChantal Antoine discusses her twenty-two-year career with the Queens Public Library as a library planner and designer. She talks about her job responsibilities and the changes she has seen in library design over the past two decades, as well as some highlights of her career. She also discusses personal matters such as her art and her early childhood in Haiti. \u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCC BY-NC-SA Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2021-07-19 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Video"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Chantal Antoine (Interviewee)","Natalie Milbrodt (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source"]},"value":{"en":["Interview conducted as part of the Queens Public Library 125th Anniversary Project."]}},{"label":{"en":["Coverage"]},"value":{"en":["2019-2021 (temporal)","Cambria Heights, Far Rockaway, Astoria, Corona, Arverne, Queens, NY and Haiti (spatial)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSummary of full Unterview\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eChantal Antoine discusses her twenty-two-year career with the Queens Public Library as a library planner and designer. She talks about her job responsibilities and the changes she has seen in library design over the past two decades, as well as some highlights of her career. She also discusses personal matters such as her art and her early childhood in Haiti.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCC BY-NC-SA\u0026nbsp;Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/128/872/small/IMG_2091aviary.jpg?1636710906","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - Natalie_and_Chantal_interview.mp4"]},"duration":4435.234,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/128/872/small/IMG_2091aviary.jpg?1636710906","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-queenslibrary.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/128/872/original/Natalie_and_Chantal_interview.mp4?1636109511","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":4435.234,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Full Transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: All right, now we're recording.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1.0,2.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Okay.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2.0,2.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: So I'll get us started by reading the statement at the beginning of the script. So my name is Natalie Milbrodt and I am interviewing Chantal Antoine. And today is July 19th, 2021. And by making this recording, we both consent to the use of our names, voices, images, and likeness by the Queens Public Library, understanding that this recording will be the property of the library and will be used in connection with the promotion and marketing of the library, its programs, and services. It will not be sold by the library in any way. We understand that we will not receive compensation and agree to hold the library harmless from any claim arising from the use of this interview and recording. Okay. So with that out of the way, Chantal, thank you so much for doing this with me.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2.0,57.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Oh, Natalie, it's my pleasure.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=57.0,59.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: I think that for people who don't know about large library systems, they don't even know that jobs like yours exist in libraries. And so I'm so happy to be able to highlight all the things that you do and then also just you as a person. So this is going to be really fun. So there are some questions that are kind of—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=59.0,78.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: —Great.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=78.0,78.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: —that set up for this project, and we'll maybe just start with those and then get into some more specific kind of stuff. Does that sound all right?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=78.0,89.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Yes, that's fine.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=89.0,90.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Okay. So the first question is how have you contributed to the work of the library?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=90.0,97.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: I thought of this, 'cause I saw the question. I've been at the library — at the Queens library for more than 22 years after a sort of varied career in design and architecture, specializing mostly in corporates. The library was the first of that type of institution that I was involved with. So as you mentioned, part of the department that I work in within Queens Library is the Capital Programs department. We're entailed or entrusted to design both in-house and with consultants, which are architects and engineers and the Department of Design and Construction. All of our structures, our physical structures that become the hub of our portfolio in our communities. And my contribution has varied in my 22 years here, but now there's sort of a shortcut between the uniqueness of a public library and what that design entails. But more specific of the Queens library system, which as you know, and many of the ones watching us, is one of the largest diverse public library systems. So with that comes some of these unique applications. So I contribute by translating that mission statement and those core values of Queens to the consultants, to the architects who very often have not designed public libraries. And if they have they've designed, like, small town libraries or school libraries and the library system is unique. And especially at Queens.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=97.0,224.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Well, follow up on that a little bit. Like what makes us different than other kinds of libraries or smaller libraries?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=224.0,231.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Well, I think the first thing is the diversity of the commu — the borough of Queens, and the fact that our libraries are entrenched in these little enclaves of communities that are shaped by so many things, culture, language, race, religion, home countries, that sort of transnationalism, and also this new American idea, right? So, how many languages — you might know this more than I do — of the contents of our libraries. So that's diverse in New York and it's diverse in a public library system. And also the nature of our experiences within the library. I'm often reminded that the library is the last public democratic space, the third space where people of all ages, of all economic strata, of all issues in life can come for a myriad of reasons, whether it's to get away from a hot day or to use a computer or to get ideas on immigration or to read a book or to do a — it's just so many varied reasons.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=231.0,324.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: And so it took me a while to understand that the library welcomes all these people, all of us, without any judgment or — and now, especially in 2021, how many spaces can we say that one person can walk into without being checked or asked questions, or show an ID? I mean, even during COVID we were the — that place where you can come and pick up a book, or testing centers. I mean, the experiences and the things that we offer at Queens Library are immense. I don't think people even have an idea of what the library is. So trying to make all that work in a physical space of a set amount of square footage, set amount of parameters and a schedule and a budget, it's like a magical trick.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=324.0,385.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: That is true. We are many things to many people.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=385.0,386.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Yes, yes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=386.0,386.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: And a really just important — just, place. I mean, aside from our collections and aside from our programming, I think that we are an essential physical space for so many people who are looking for that space that is not home and that is not work or school. So, yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=386.0,407.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Exactly. Exactly. So it's a combination of intelligences, right? It's a physical space, but yet it does so much. It does what home is supposed to do, what work is supposed to do, what an educational institution is supposed to do, where grandma is supposed to do in terms of children spaces, storytelling, arts and crafts. I mean, it's an amazing hub of what we can offer. It's part of — I think it's one of our better angels — spaces, libraries.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=407.0,452.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Agreed.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=452.0,452.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: And I feel lucky to contribute to that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=452.0,452.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: So tell us about how long you've been with the library and if there are changes that you've seen in that time, in terms of the needs of communities or the way that we build libraries.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=452.0,466.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Well, I've been there — I've been at the library counting — going on 23 years, and I've seen the changes. When I first started at the library, back in 1998 or so, the libraries were very generic. They were places where you walked in, there were shelves, there were tables, there was a librarian. There was books, of course, and slowly and surely the library started to get — to have unique personalities. They weren't as generic. They weren't as — not that they were foreboding, but they weren't — they're even more welcoming now in terms of, as I mentioned earlier, these different communities, right? So we've introduced color that are — we've introduced texture, we've introduced — libraries have paid much more attention to the different end users. So we're welcoming to teens and it was always this question of how do you welcome teens and not, you know, make it uncomfortable for your elderly adults, you know?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=466.0,541.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: So we've put into a lot of attention, flexibility of spaces, community spaces, where the age groups interact. The library offers more different seating experiences. You know, you don't have to sit at a table to read a book, that conventional way of using the library. You can bring in your laptop, you can plug in your own technology. You can sit in a lounge chair and read the paper and magazine, just a diverse, more user-friendly type of environment. I remember when we started really paying attention to our teen spaces, the idea that teens like to go to Starbucks, to sit at the counter, they like to engage in conversation. And so the communal, transactional work surfaces — they sit differently. So we introduced stools. They've changed a lot. And I think the idea — the differences from generic to more user specific, and then of course, knowing that our communities are constantly changing. How do you balance meeting the community present, that's there, and yet you're flexible enough to know that everyone will feel welcome. Everyone will feel that this is their branch library, their library that — I forget what the mileage is in library, that you can walk within a certain mile and find a commu — and find a library.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=541.0,652.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: I think they say that most people in Queens live less than a mile away from a library.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=652.0,657.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Well library. And, you know, I was just thinking about my own hometown library, where I have to drive to. And that I think in 35 years, I may have been there twice, perhaps. And how often I took my kids to the Queens library when they were small. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=657.0,684.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: So I'm thinking about something that you said about how teens use spaces differently and how you're just noticing the way that people use the space and what their needs are. And I'm curious about how you figure that out. Are you talking to public service staff who are working in the branches? Are you going to observe them? Are you — is there literature about architecture for libraries that you're following? Like how is it that you're figuring these things out?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=684.0,710.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: That's a really great question. Believe it or not they — I've done a lot of research. There isn't that much literature out there about designing libraries, public libraries, especially in the states and especially in busy states, like in New York area. So in teens — teens are a particular — we have a variety of very involved librarian staff that attend all of the yearly seminars, the ALA. And so there's that kind of synergy, that then they come back and we work very strongly with the other departments within the library. You know, CLS or the librarians are our clients, our end user, so we need — it's been something — with our teen librarian consultants years ago that came up and spoke to leadership and said, \"Wow, guys, teens are a new population\". We need to get them to the library early if we didn't catch them for whatever reason in their early years, because once they become patrons of the library, they're lifelong users. And how do we gauge them to make the library a place where they want to go to?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=710.0,806.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: So the consultant, who is probably one of the few that wrote a lot that you can access about designing teen spaces, you know, mentioned to us that they want a space of their own. They want to be able to, you know, for the lack of a better word, tag it, you know, and make it — like, let them write on the walls, let them express themselves. Well, we can't really do that in Queens with a carte blanche, but perhaps we give them one little area that sort of has boundaries of what they can do. But maybe they do want to come and play games. That took me a while to say, well, you know, video games is what my son goes into if he's been — when he was a teen and he behaved and he went to his room and played whatever the video game of du jour was, but I don't want him to do that at the library. Well, kids learn and engage that way. So we had to add gaming. We had to know that they like to sit together. Don't part and tell them to be quiet, they engage with each other. So give them — give the ones that work that way the opportunity to do that and the one that just wants to sit there and study a quiet space for them to do that. Technology, of course, has changed all of our libraries, all of our end users, but primarily teens.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=806.0,899.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: But the idea of giving computers, having computers in cyber centers, those who need that assistance, that resource, providing, you know, those Starbucks counters that I mentioned, plugging in a wiring table so they can plug in their cell phones. Cell phones have been a huge change. I think when I started working at the library — I think I had a beeper. I think that the way — when I went to the site, I think they communicated by calling me on a beeper. I mean, think about it, Natalie. In 20 years, 23 years, I went from beeper to a large phone that was the size of a landline, to a Blackberry, to a little phone that has everything on it, including I could probably have had this conference with you on my cell phone. That has been a huge change.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=899.0,960.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Yeah. The lives, that — the computing that most people can do is so, so different in that time that you've been with the library. That is a huge change.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=960.0,968.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: A huge change, huge change.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=968.0,969.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: So, going more into—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=969.0,969.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: I was thinking of—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=969.0,969.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: —Oh, go ahead.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=969.0,971.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: No, I was thinking of Cambria Heights, which is one of our most successful — one of my most successful projects that I think of. And one of the most successful team projects. We even have a sound booth. I mean, kids can actually go in and do their own music. And we've had — I think we had a couple of CDs that they developed for Queens. And that is amazing. It's an amazing space.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=971.0,1008.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: The other thing I love about Cambria is that space they have for art. That is a really beautiful library.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1008.0,1016.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: It is. I'm biased to Cambria Heights. So the art at Cambria and in many of our libraries is part of the Percent for Art programs that the city puts in. So a new project — every new project you have the percentage allocated to adding a public art project. So Cambria was a renovated projects. It was — no, it was a new building. And so it's very interesting for me because I sit often on the selection of the artists and the concept presentation, and of course the actual application of the art. And because Cambria Heights is a neighborhood that is very Caribbean and also I have Caribbean heritage — I came to this country at the age of eight but I'm from — I was born in Haiti — the idea of an art pieces that was colorful and Caribbean and sort of indigenous of that community was very interesting but there were no Haitian artists or Caribbean artists within the pool.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1016.0,1094.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: So we were able to find this really interesting woman, has no Caribbean heritage at all, that interpreted those little canvases that were colorful in the Caribbean style, but they were also right adjacent to the children's room. If you remember, they're right there. So they did — they were colorful and enticing for children, yet if a Caribbean person of any kind of Caribbean country, now let's just say Haiti, walked in, that was familiar to them in the colors and the shapes. And so that's also an extremely important aspect of the work that I do at Queens. You know, I have a meeting right after this, which is the selection of the artists for Arverne, which is really interesting. So art also comes into play, and I'm very biased when it comes to art and what art contributes to not only one's environment, but one's wellbeing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1094.0,1162.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Talk a little bit more about that. Maybe you can talk about the Haitian art series that was done, where you were selecting and having a festival with the art. Would that be a good place to start in talking about art?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1162.0,1180.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: So — and again, I go back to Cambria because Cambria had a very huge Friends group, and when we were designing the teams — culturally Haiti has a huge, an international reputation, aside from being one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere, which is what they always say, but also this resilience in the art and in Haiti, art is everywhere. I mean, that's how — it's sort of like a gift that somehow we were given to — as a balm to all of the things we've gone through. It survives through generations. And so there is a huge — this festival that one of our librarians put together, he's a librarian, Reginald St. Fort, and he's also an artist. And that's the thing, many Haitians are, like, professionals and part-time artists. And I speak for myself. So it wasn't just Haitian art, it was Caribbean art because we found out that there's so many [unclear] freelance artists, as well as artists, doctors, and lawyers and homemakers, students who are extremely creative.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1180.0,1265.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: So through all the branches, the Friends group put together this art — this five or six branch art exhibit. And we had selections from the whole community, and then a group of us because of space really, mostly than anything, we had to, you know, select. And so it was a fun [unclear] of selecting the artists and then trying to decide which branches best serve the art in terms of how we can organize the art. So I was a juror. I was also there on behalf of CPM to sort of relegate where the art can be hung without, you know, destroying or marring our spaces, and making sure that the installation would be seamless as possible once it's taken out, 'cause we're not a museum. And also I was able to participate in the art. So I was a professional of the Queens library, I was a member of the art selection, which is a Friends group, and then of course I was a participant as an artist, as a freelance artist. So it was amazing. It was an amazing experience and my colleagues and many of the people I work with at the library, like you, didn't know that I even — I don't think that anybody knew that I was from Haiti, let alone that I had this little quiet backstory of having [laughs] art and having exhibits. It was wonderful.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1265.0,1367.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Talk a little bit about that. Talk a little bit about your art and what you contributed to that festival, but then just generally about your work.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1367.0,1377.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Well, thank you for that question. It's one that I think about often. I came here in 1965 in exile with my parents. We were never — my father was very prominent in — prior to the Duvalier dictatorship. And I left Haiti at the age of eight having spent three really — hiding, literally, in Haiti in a basement with my mother and my sister. So I didn't go to school in Haiti. So when I came here, my memories of Haiti — although one can say they're traumatic, but they were mostly nostalgic. So I would hunt — hang into whatever little piece of Haiti, especially as I became more Americanized, right. I lost my accent. My friends are all American. I didn't know many Haitian people at the time. So art became just reading books about Haitian art. So I started very much to copy, copy the style that was so indigenous of my country, but that I had no real experience with, you know. I don't — I didn't eat a coconut from a tree or I didn't go fishing in those beautiful waters that so many of my friends tell me about.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1377.0,1463.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Later on, way after design school, way after working at the library, or while I was working at the library, I fell in love with art therapy, art as therapy, and I went back to Hofstra for my Master's. And then it was sort of that art is not only aesthetically something that we do. It's something that really helps us psychologically and emotionally. Not just a painting, anything creative, whether it's photography, writing, dancing — it sublimates whatever trauma or angst or issues that we may have [unclear] something is in itself therapeutic. So art for me has become a combination of things. It's a way that I hold on to my culture in Haiti. It's the way that I teach my children who were born here. And it's also a way that I express myself or go into myself.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1463.0,1527.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: My second art exhibit at the library last year that was taken down was part of my journals. I draw in these monthly journals that I keep every month. And so that art is strictly a private, intimate art, but yet it communicates to others because it was very centered on women and women's experiences and how we relate to each other. How regardless of what our physicalities are, our culture, our color, our race, we communicate on that level that we're all sisters, right? We're all communicating. Our issues are similar, although they're different. We can understand each other's trauma, whether it's, you know — so that was what my recent exhibit was. And it was called, I — oh my god — it was about the walls, the walls that we create with each other. And also the walls of my journal, which were — I thought were private, but I could open them up and share them with Natalie, or would share them with somebody who just happened to be at the library.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1527.0,1605.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: And when was the first time that you kind of brought your art into your job at the library?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1605.0,1613.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Oh, wow. When was the first time? Oh, you know what? I think it was — it was a project. I remember the branch directly. And again, as I mentioned, the architects were very generic, right? White walls, light wood, grey carpeting. It was also the collective consciousness of architects. You know, architects very often if you've followed their — the years, you know, one day we're all doing everything in white and gray. Everywhere you look, that's the idea, that's what's accepted. Now we'll do something and we'll add green and orange, but it'll still be white and gray. So my — the VP at the library came to me. My boss said, \"You know what, Chantal, I hate this board, can you look at something to add a little color?\" You know, try to think of ways that we can add some color to this gray and white and oak world.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1613.0,1678.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: And I took it seriously and it happened to be Corona, actually, at the time. And so I decided, well, Corona, what's the community like? So I went through my art books and I found a geography book called Windows of the World that showed the typography and colors of all different countries. Greece. You know, when you think of Greece, you think white, blue, cerulean. When you think of Egypt or Middle Eastern, you think of the desert and those warm colors. When you think of New York — you know, it's funny, in that book, they take me to the Greenwich village where you see grays and reds of the brownstones, of the townhouses. So New York had a color that was mostly gray, black, white, red. And so I took all of the countries that were sort of representative of who was at Corona.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1678.0,1733.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: And we threw in these colors and the architects were angry and the DDC was angry. [laughs] I mean, the colors are still there. There were — Natalie, there were teals, there were oranges, there were purples. Everything was like — it was like a carnival. DDC hired someone right after that project called Design Excellence to keep me in check [laughs], because I think they thought, we're going to design this library and this library planner is going to come in [laughs] and throw these colors. Now, that didn't happen. However, every time there's a presentation, there's always this black and gray theme that comes up, and of course I've learned to — not impose that, but I think they've gotten better. You know, it may not be a masquerade of colors, but, you know, there's an idea that, you know, we can't get — color's important. So that came from my art, that came from my culture, that came from my sensibilities. So that was something, I think, that my art influenced the architecture of the library.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1733.0,1812.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: But do you, I mean, when did you start though — I mean, even then, were you like out, I guess, as an artist? Like, did people at the office—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1812.0,1819.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: —No!","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1819.0,1820.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: —know that you were drawing and painting—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1820.0,1821.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: —No. No, no, no.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1821.0,1822.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Okay. So when did that happen?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1822.0,1825.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Okay. September 11th happened — was that September? We were at the annex. We were at the annex at the library and there were three departments, the adult learning center, the foundation, and us, and we realize, oh — some of us realize that we, you know, we work together. So many people perished together. We should have a Thanksgiving lunch and it was going to be potluck. And so of course, because [makes air quotes gesture] quote, I'm like the designer planner, I was put into the category of setting up the room, not so much bringing the food. And one of my ideas were, wow, let me give something to everyone. What could that be? So I did placemats that I — I actually did two placemats that was actually 11 by 17 paintings of bountiful tables. So I was influenced by Degas and some of the Renaissance still lives because that's not my style, but again, the colors were there. And so they became the placemats and they became the gift that everyone could take with them. So it's funny, George Carrero [phonetic] had it in his office for the longest time. Somebody took it home and framed it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1825.0,1910.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: So that's when it was like, \"Oh my gosh, Chantal, you do this? Do you draw?\" That's when I came out, but it was only to my colleagues, and only for that. The big unveiling was the art exhibit where one of my pieces was selected to be the cover of the little — the poster and also the catalog that they gave out, which had nothing to do with me. It was judged and decided to be the one that they use. And I was actually said — I was actually blown away and also frightened because I didn't want it to seem that because I also worked at the library, that's why it was selected, but it had nothing to do with me. That's when it was [makes air quotes gesture] officially that I was an artist.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1910.0,1957.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/56","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: And what was that like, to have those worlds come crashing into each other? Was that a little — how was that?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1957.0,1967.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/57","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: I mean, it's like everything you keep private all of a sudden comes out, right? There's that awkwardness, being uncomfortable, you know? And yet I got such immense, wonderful feedback from a lot of my colleagues just walking on the second floor. The custodians were like, oh, wow, [laughs] you know? So that — and then that got better, that got better, but it's always an awkward feeling, you know, it's sort of — I've had exhibits. So if you have an exhibit in a gallery and you have an opening, people actually go to the gallery to see your art, but it's — when it's in the library, it's like, oh, do I have to see that woman's art again, like, I'm just having to walk [laughs]. I really don't want to see those little women with the coconut trees that, you know, on their head. So it feels more like forced than someone actually taking the time to go to a gallery to see art, but I got over it, Natalie.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=1967.0,2040.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/58","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Well, I think it's really generous. And I think that it's, you know, really a vulnerable thing to do to bring yourself, you know, something that is really personal into the workplace and share it with all of us. And it is totally delightful to learn something like that about a colleague, like you make art? I mean, it's an amazing surprise. So, it's fun. I really — I enjoyed learning that about you—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2040.0,2062.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/59","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: — Well, I know you always said that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2062.0,2063.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/60","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: —and seeing the artwork that you do.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2063.0,2063.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/61","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: You were one of the people that said that to me originally. And again, and how does that affect our relationship as a colleague? Because the next time you're involved with art, or you were involved with art, you just said, \"Hey, would you like to take a look at this?\" Because art is a passion for me, it's not just — I mean, you can't see it, but I think I collect art books from all over the world from all types of artists. And I'd rather not eat a good meal and order an art book, 'cause they're not cheap.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2063.0,2103.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/62","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: I have to hide them from my kids, like, follow the Amazon tracking, make sure it's going to be there while I can grab it, rip it apart, put it in the art book before somebody comes in and says, \"Mom, did you get another art book?\" Like, did you get another art book? Yeah. So — and now, I've always been a book lover, but working at the library. I mean, if there was ever a dream job for a bookie like me — and so many subjects. So often, Natalie, I'll walk in, I'll see a book, I'll borrow it, but then I don't have enough time to enjoy it. I'll bring it back and then I'll buy it. And I wouldn't have seen it if I didn't walk through the library. You know? So the library has not done anything to lessen my book hoarding hobby.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2103.0,2164.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/63","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Same. And I think that there are a lot of us who are just kind of people who are curious about stuff. And I know that I will get, you know, I'll have some topic that I'm interested in and I'll be like, I'm going to find that Dewey range and I'm going to go down into the stacks, you know, because what a lot of people don't know about Central Library is that we have floors that are not open to the public that just have ranges of shelves where it's just book storage—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2164.0,2186.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/64","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: —Sure.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2186.0,2186.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/65","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: —mostly. And so it's all of the deep collections that we have. So if you are interested in, you know, like, woodworking or Haitian history, or, you know, I don't know what, the politics of something or how to cook a goose or like whatever you want to look at, we've got it. And so it's amazing to just be able to on your way out the door, right? Just, look at something—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2186.0,2210.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/66","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: —Look at something.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2210.0,2210.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/67","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: —and learn a little something.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2210.0,2212.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/68","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: It's very interesting that you say this about Haitian history. So here's a typical thing. We have very few libraries in Haiti, and books go out of print very often and many times — for many years, and to today, most of our scholars write in France — in French. Most of them immigrated to France or Canada. I have lots of relatives in Montreal. So for someone who went to school here, I started school — I went to kindergarten in Haiti, so they tell me — I do speak French and Haitian Creole by sheer interest. My parents didn't enforce it. My sister, who is about two years younger than me, does not speak. I do. I read French and I took French in high school and I speak Creole. My kids don't, but — many of the books are written in French. So — and they're out of print. The Queens library at Central — in the archives, as you say — I will look for one and I'll go down there and I'll find it and I'll take it out and I'll keep taking it out until I force myself to really understand it in French because it's harder. I think in English, I process in English. So it takes longer to read in French. I have to go back and read a couple of sentences to get the gist of it. But now there's all these books that are being translated, history books that are being translated in English because so many of us are not speaking French, but the history — just of Haitian history, which is such a limited little range that constantly goes out of print — the library is — books that you would not even imagine.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2212.0,2342.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/69","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: I had — I found a book that talked about my dad in a very negative way and someone mentioned it to me, and I was actually speaking to the author in Canada and the books were, like, five series. And I said, \"Why am I buying these books from this man who has said something negative about my father?\" [unclear] So I asked Nelson — I went to the library and sure enough, I found the exact series of the book of which he called my father redoutable [terrible/formidable], which — it was a word that I didn't even know but one of my colleagues explained to me what the redoutable — [speaks with French accent] redoutable — is in French. Which is a forceful word, but I had imagined that it was much more — it was worse than that 'cause redoutable [laughs] — it's still a word that I can't get past. But I digress. [laughs]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2342.0,2386.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/70","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: So is there anything else that we should talk about with — in connection to art before we kind of move from that?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2386.0,2394.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/71","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: I can't think — I think we talked about everything—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2394.0,2399.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/72","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: I know that project that you and I worked on is maybe worth mentioning, that the library has a bunch of WPA era artworks—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2399.0,2407.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/73","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: —Oh.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2407.0,2409.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/74","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: —that were, you know, getting print — framed slowly and putting up around the library. They're incredible.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2409.0,2417.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/75","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: That in itself is an incredible project. I never knew about the WPA, didn't read about it in the history books. It's only after I started collecting art. A lot of the African-American artists of notoriety were able to get their fame and sell their art through that program. When I was a — employer before the library, we were entrusted to redesign some public schools. And again, there were these beautiful murals actually out of that same program. Just recently were we doing Astoria, the library at Astoria, and although it's a whole renovation, we — part of the Percent for Art, as I mentioned, was not to engage a new artist but was to restore the WPA mural that was there. And apparently find out that there were two other pieces of this art and trying to locate it because we were hoping to find it and put it back in where its original purpose was.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2417.0,2492.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/76","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: So that in itself and all of the art pieces that you've reframed and put in the corridor — and many times I've come to you, \"Natalie, can we help? Can — do you have any idea where this piece could be?\" That in itself is another whole incredible lineage of the Queens library system. Even Andrew Carnegie. I mean, the idea that, you know, this philanthropic person built all these libraries and we still have a couple of them in our portfolio. And that's something that if you want to do research on, just to read about the Carnegie concepts of design of libraries, that in itself is an artistic, you know, endeavor that was done so many years ago.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2492.0,2548.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/77","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: And what's interesting is as libraries develop and change, you go back and you say, well, you know, Andrew Carnegie had some points that were well thought up. The idea that children need a space of their own. Many of the Carnegie buildings, the children's room are on a lower level, right? And when we did our smaller, you know, Lindsey [phonetic] buildings, everything was on one floor. Well, the children are squeezed. They're noisy. They want to be noisy. They distract people and, you know what, they want to be by themselves. Let's put them back on the second floor, on a lower floor. Let's keep them down there. For example, at some of our sort of Carnegie buildings, like Woodhaven, let's keep the children's floor. Let's put the children's floor back downstairs because it was in the main floor. And so you realize that things change, there's a cycle, but sometimes the old ideas become new again. They become relevant again.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2548.0,2616.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/78","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: And you had mentioned earlier that you are sometimes kind of the go-between with the architect who's been hired to build a new library and with the Queens Public Library staff. So maybe, can you talk a little bit about — you know, because people don't really understand—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2616.0,2632.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/79","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: —Right.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2632.0,2632.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/80","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: —they know when we have a new building, but like they don't understand—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2632.0,2635.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/81","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: —Right.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2635.0,2635.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/82","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: — how that relationship works and what we're responsible for, you know?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2635.0,2639.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/83","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Correct. So, the library — the entities of the library do not select the architect. It's this artist — there's a pool of architects that submit their resumes to the Department of Design and Construction. And we get monies and the library — it's both a combination of city council money and also some of our own capital budget money. We're going to start a new building and then DDC gives us a list of architects that they've narrowed down — the Department of Design and Construction. And internally we look at the resumes and see who might be the best. So we give our preference. So these architects are sometimes very well known, right? And sometimes they're mom and pop shops that have designed before, but they've never done a public library. But they — you know, they're designers, they're professionals, they know a library means shelves, desks, an entry, a checkout, you know, staff areas, but they don't really understand the way, the synergy of how that works.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2639.0,2715.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/84","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: For example, collection account. Library — you know, an architect will come in, there's a program, but they'll throw some shelves in. They don't understand that, for example, in children's rooms, it's best to have 12 inch clearance, 12 inch depth, because the librarians don't want to be — they don't want to be told where they're going to put their collection, right? They have an idea that this will be where the picture books fit, or this will be where this fits. But if you give them an idea — a flexible system where they can decide that, as apart to — as aside from giving them strictly 10 inch shelving, those are the things that no designer or architect would know unless I tell — unless we tell them. You know, what size — the idea of having seating that anybody regarding of the body type can sit comfortably at. An architect will come in and just find the best looking chair. It's part of their vision. And it's beautiful. And it's very well-designed, but guess what, I can't [laughs] — I can't get up from it. Or, you know, the idea of white tabletops, so white — things that can't be maintained easily. No, you can't. I know, I know it's beautiful, but we don't — we can't do that. It's going to last beautifully for two weeks and it's going to get worn.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2715.0,2813.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/85","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: So that's decoration, but the way that we use our libraries, I'm often — I sometimes do initial plans very often after they've submitted three or four plans that don't work and then I will do one and I'll make it sort of like freehand. So I'm not really dictating or being professorial because we do want the synergy of new ideas, right? I'm not the expert at everything, just the Queens library. And then they'll say, \"Well, we never thought of that\". You know, one little thing, Natalie, the librarian is — should sit facing the, you know, the adults, let's say. She's approachable. She's not some gatekeeper that is just checking out books or, you know, using the Dewey system and her back is to you. Something as easily as reorienting the way a person sits within a room is something that you have to teach an architect, you know? Because for example, law libraries are different. I've designed law libraries. There are books and shelves. There's someone sitting at the desk. You walk in, you give your ID. No one is helping you go get the case book that you want on the shelf. That's different than the way a public library functions.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2813.0,2904.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/86","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Yeah. And it's pretty frowned upon in library practice to be — especially in a public library — to be locked in behind a big piece of furniture—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2904.0,2912.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/87","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: —Exactly.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2912.0,2912.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/88","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: —where people feel like they get a little nervous about even approaching—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2912.0,2915.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/89","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: —Exactly, exactly.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2915.0,2916.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/90","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: —and asking questions. So, yeah, having — I mean, it seems like I see less and less furniture around our librarians–","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2916.0,2921.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/91","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: —Yes, you do.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2921.0,2922.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/92","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: —and more opportunities for people to just be with the people who are coming in and helping them out.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2922.0,2928.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/93","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Correct. I mean, the whole idea of self check, self return — again, technology, you know, what is that doing to our libraries? What does that do to that hub of circulation desk that used to be there when you can just go in and return your books, take out your books. And there's only a couple of times you really want to address someone other than a librarian about information, right? You know, I'm often surprised about how many people during COVID called in and took out their book and just went to the library to pick it up and interacted with staff on the phone. That's incredible to me. So yes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2928.0,2972.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/94","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Yeah, I think that the people who were doing the phone lines — I think they were pretty busy—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2972.0,2976.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/95","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: —They were very busy.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2976.0,2977.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/96","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: —because I think there were a lot of people who were like — they were wanting some contact. [laughs]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2977.0,2979.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/97","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: They were. [laughs]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2979.0,2984.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/98","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Can you think — I mean, I know that you don't usually work at the kind of individual patron level where you're doing, like, one-on-one help, but are there any stories that you know of or that come to mind where the library made a change in somebody's life or an individual story?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=2984.0,3000.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/99","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: I have a personal story. I — for the past 30 years or so, I had my taxes done in Astoria. My ex-husband and I owned a restaurant years ago and this guy was the best accountant for that. And I've always done my taxes since then. So — and of course I'm in Astoria, and I'm the only person of color in that little community accountant — John, who knows me by heart because it's been 30, 35 years or so. And there's a little Greek — there's a Greek woman sitting in the reception area. And I don't know how she hears that I work for the Queens library, but somehow it comes out and she says, \"You work for the library?\" And I said, yes. And she said, \"Which one?\" Of course, it's Astoria, so I'm thinking it's gotta be the ones near there, right? Broadway, Steinway. And she's with a young — she's with a man, and I find out that it's her son. He's an adult son, obviously autistic or challenged. And she says to me, \"I want my son to work at the library, how does he do that?\" And I said, \"Well, I'm not sure I know that, but I can find out\". I know — she said, you know what? And she tells me this, Natalie, she says, \"I'm dying of cancer. And my son is — he doesn't need the money. I want to make sure he has a place that he can go to, and he'll do anything. He'll put books back on the shelves and he'll — he's a good boy and he'll — three hours, two hours.\"","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3000.0,3109.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/100","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: And so of course I go back to my office and I'm trying to find out, I call, I — they tell me who to call. I call all the departments that are involved with hiring adults to — you know, part-time staff, hourly. And finally, I talked to my — one of my favorite CLS directors, and I tell her about this young — and he's in his late forties, probably. And after a lot of waiting in line and whatever I needed to do, then a couple of months before she passed away, we were able to find her son a job at Broadway for a couple of hours to put books. And — his name is James, and he worked there for about five or six years. His job at the library was the most important thing of the day. And he would call me and tell me the books that he's reading and all he's doing, sometimes I had to get him off the phone. And it gave him his independence. It helped him mourn his mom. I went to the funeral.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3109.0,3186.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/101","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: I mean, James became one of my sons. And he recently got married with a woman in Fiji or Burma. He called me, told me — through a dating site and he's trying to get her to Astoria. He owned his apartment. His mother made sure that he was completely independent. That is one of my — where I saw the Queens library, as you said, really made a huge impact in someone's life from worker to a person that can pick out books at the library to a person that can live on their own to a person that now is married, has traveled to Burma or wherever it was. It's an amazing, amazing story.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3186.0,3242.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/102","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Wow. That's incredible. And that was so kind of you to stick with her when you —and figure that all out. That sounds like a major undertaking.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3242.0,3255.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/103","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: [laughs] It changed my life.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3255.0,3255.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/104","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Wow.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3255.0,3255.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/105","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: I mean, it did, it literally did because part of — between the time that I met her and the time that she passed away and the time that we got James a job, she asked me to take her to her cancer hospital in Manhattan, Sloan Kettering or something. And I said, \"Stella, I'll take you, I'll take you\". So I got to her house and, of course, I'm wheeling her in and the doctors think that I'm her hired nurse or her nurse's aide. And — so I'm in there with her, and the doctor comes in and she asks me to leave and Stella with this big Greek accent says, \"This is not my hired nurse. This is my friend\". And I have doctors in my family, so I was able to hear what her charts were and we were able to talk about it. And I was able to — it was just an incredible experience, but it all started because of the Queens library. She heard me say — I think maybe John said, \"How is the job at the library\", you know, and I said that and she heard, and it made a huge — Natalie, I do believe that she died a little bit more peacefully knowing that her son would have something to do. Like she kept telling me, \"I took care of him. It's not about the money. Just one hour at the library, that'll be a great place for him to work\". Yeah. It was more the library than me, but I guess I helped a little bit [laughs].","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3255.0,3351.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/106","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: You're full of surprises. I love that, Chantal.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3351.0,3354.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/107","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Thank you. Thank you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3354.0,3359.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/108","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: So, when you think about the library and you think about what's coming in this next year, next five years, what are some of your hopes for the future of the library?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3359.0,3370.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/109","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Oh, wow. I'm frightened — I'm not frightened for the library. I'm frightened by everything that's happening around us. I'm uncertain. In terms of design, I hope that the library will continue to be on the forefront of what that service is. I think that that is a dance between the librarians, the leadership, and of course, CPM. You know, I don't know how long I'll still be at the Queens library. So, I'm not —I'm hoping that the department continues to really believe in what we do. You know, I think that my colleagues and I have come to a way that we really care about what the library does. I feel lucky to have been able to continue what I went to school for in terms of my career and still work at something so meaningful.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3370.0,3443.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/110","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Again, I think it was September 11th that showed me, you know, when you design gorgeous offices in corporate America, that's fun work, right? You don't have the budgets that you have at the library. You don't have the, this idea of, you know — I designed offices where everything had to be gray and black, and it was like, gray leather and black leather and marble and granite, and it was gorgeous. And it was this — actually, this company had a huge archival department of this black and white art. They collected, you know, lithographs and — throughout the years, of black and white art. And that was the only art that was displayed in the three or four floors in Manhattan. But what happens is — when you realize when that building collapsed and all of that stuff just disintegrated, you realize that the libraries do something different, right? We change lives. We — it means more. A piece of furniture is a little bit more than just a hierarchy, that I'm the VP in that three bay window office. And I get that lacquered, expensive [unclear] camphor desk, you know, it has more — so I'm hoping that the mission statement of the library stays. I don't know.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3443.0,3530.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/111","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: I suppose technology will continue to change libraries. I spoke to my son, who's in between college degrees right now and he said something about do — most of our libraries have — someone came in and asked him in a branch that's not populated by African-Americans [unclear], \"Where are your black books?\" And I said, \"Well, what did you say?\" And he said, \"Well, I know that there's some branches that have what they call the [makes air quotes gesture] black experience\". You know, where books are — I said, aren't like the big Toni Morrison books, all just alphabetical order, can't you just go to M, you know, in nonfiction or fiction and grab a Toni Morrison? Well, yeah, but they wanted to come in and see the black experience, you know? I'm hoping — I know the library does that in many branches, that someone like that will be more — those types of the categories will be more easily seen.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3530.0,3603.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/112","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: That's a question of real estate, you know, and it's also a question of community. I understand why it doesn't happen at every library, why it can't. You know, when I was designing at Flushing, I remember a Korean entity gave a whole collection of books. And we had to create in Flushing Korean corner, you know, and these books keep replenishing itself. Because no matter how much we're having this discussion about being immigrants and where are our cultures from, what keeps us Americans is the ability to let others know who we are and see the things that we have in common, right? Except always stratifying us, because when we start calling each other Korean Americans or my children call themselves African-American of Caribbean heritage or Haitian heritage or whatever the types are, you know, I think that's part of the issue that we're all going through, who is an American.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3603.0,3673.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/113","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: And I think the library is going to be one of those physical spaces that unites us all in that diversity. We do it already. I mean, we do it with our New Americans programs, right? You do it. I mean, this whole Memory Project — and I know you've done this before, Natalie, you know, tell me your experience in the library. And one of the things I know that you did when you interviewed Dr. Garcia [phonetic], who speaks [unclear] of you, about getting him [unclear] to speak about his art. And he's an opthalmologist, right, who paints the most beautiful historical paintings. And he's able to express that in this new country that we're all calling home. That's what I think I hope the library continues to do.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3673.0,3732.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/114","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: I love that. Yeah, he's a special guy. He knows so much. I mean, he really is super well-informed and has a great background too. Yeah. That was a privilege to meet him. And then just, you know, as this is kind of a time capsule of July 2021, what projects are you guys working on right now? Like, what are the libraries that are being rebuilt or new libraries that are being built? Like what — what's on the docket right now that you guys are—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3732.0,3762.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/115","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Sure. We have an interesting group of really fun projects. We're in the process of schematics for the new Douglaston library. We are — we just finished Glendale, which was sort of a — I don't want to say historical preservation project, but that building is so beautiful. That branch is so beautiful that it was sort of a hybrid between a real historical preservation building in which you tried to take the good parts of how it was then and modernize it. So that's going to be a great new project. We're finalizing Steinway, which is in Astoria, which is sort of a two-phase new project. It's an ADA project, but it's also a new children's room, an elevator. A lot of our projects have been to fix some of our older buildings and bring them up to code with ADA, which means elevators and the aisles and ramps. And for all of our, you know, that whole — the quality of the experience of our libraries.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3762.0,3840.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/116","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: One of my favorite projects, however, it's, um, Arverne. Arverne suffered — I remember this, Hurricane Sandy did a number on Arverne and it was around Thanksgiving weekend. And I remembered Richard and I driving through Far Rockaway in the dark. There was no electricity, and it was like eight o'clock at night. We were there for generators or something. It was like a war zone, Natalie. There were these big humvees that were around, but Arverne had a courtyard that we put a trailer. And I remember one day just seeing a line of our patrons standing for boxes of food and coats and all of their belongings have been damaged. So this particular project is an extension of the Arverne branch into the space where the trailer was. That's going to be a community center, right? A large meeting room, but two large meeting rooms. And it's an addition to the branch, it's to supplement the branch but beautifully done. So it's raised because of the potential flood zones.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3840.0,3927.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/117","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: It brings the nature in, because one of the things — if you know where that branch is, it's across a housing project and there's no greenery, right? The beach is far. So this whole building is going to bring a green wall and it's got wood. It's got, you know — and what's most fascinating, which is we're meeting soon, is the artist that was selected. Who's — actually came up with this idea of these cartoons, these little comic books, cartoons of helping each other out with these book — these boxes, and it's like a cycle, right? And I got goosebumps when I saw this, because he knew about Hurricane Sandy, he surfs in the Rockaways and he was able to know that one of the most resilient idea is community building, what we do to engage each other at moments like that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3927.0,3990.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/118","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: So the art is like this whimsical — I can't wait for you to see it. And so there's this art in this glass — it's got a window. And there's also these little creatures that he's embellished in the tiles in the bathrooms. They're like — so one says, \"Really, art in the bathroom?\" But — well, I have art in my bathroom, but this is like the tiles. And so it will appeal to adults because it's not every tile. It's not like wallpaper. But \"What is that little— \" You know, I find that so, so interesting. And then the third application is the glass door. You know, we have to put a safety tape at a certain height to tell people, hey, this is glass, right? Usually it's just dots. Or there was a time — It was a library little flag, but he's come up with this idea that it — it's almost like a comic book. It changes, the little circles change. Now, Natalie, I don't know if anybody's going to see that because of the scale, but I tend to think that a little kid will, and then a teenager might.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=3990.0,4067.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/119","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: You know, when I was designing Cambria Heights, I had to attend a group, a branch meeting on a Saturday to talk about the project. And because I was Haitian I could — they wanted me to speak in Creole, Haitian Creole, and in French and in English. And some of the teens came up to me and said, \"Oh my god, you're a designer?\" Like the idea of being a designer, being Haitian, being a woman, being — was like an anomaly to them. That's how I think of this art. It's going to be like, little kids are going to see that and think, \"Wow, I could illustrate\". I could be, you know, it's — they're more like cartoons, but they're more like graffiti. Very interesting art.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4067.0,4116.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/120","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: So, that's a project that I'm excited about that I'd like to see. Far Rockaway is going to be a jewel in our portfolio. It's slated for the end of this year. That's a project to look for. It was built by an amazing star architect, SNØHETTA. They did some things at the World — at the Trade Center, I think they did the pool, the memory pool. Different building, but interesting because we butt heads. My department and them butt heads the whole time, because this is an architect who's a star architect and imposes their philosophy. And then you have to like push back and say, \"Well, that's fine, but this is a library\". This is what it's got to do. These are the things that we have to be aware of. So I think the compromise is going to be interesting. So those are the projects I can think of. Richmond Hill, Bay Terrace, lots of nice things.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4116.0,4185.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/121","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: That gives me such a good idea of just how many of our buildings are under construction or under redesign at all times. I mean, there's just a constant, there's just constant change, isn't there? Just constant—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4185.0,4198.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/122","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Yes, Far Rockaway was in construction during COVID. It stopped for, like, the first two months, but this was an active project. It didn't — you know, during COVID and yes, a lot of our projects, our renovations still were happening. I mean, even if they're not a brand new building, a lot of our ADA work or our new HVAC — I mean, even the things, Natalie, that we — that the library did during COVID, you know, try to retrofit those branches. I mean, that wasn't always CPM, it was FDS and Health and Safety, but, you know, we've had to rethink some of our design criterias. Even if COVID becomes in the past, you know, are people going to be sitting next to each other, that close on a computer station? And yet that's the square footage that you have. So how do you solve that problem and still meet the count that you want to meet? You can't just have a computer with four people, right?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4198.0,4269.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/123","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: So these things we've had to keep in mind, you know, how has COVID changed our physical structures and what can we imply? What can we put in a project that's been on the books, because our projects are on board for like 8, 9, 10 years. You can't go back and change it all, but what can you do in the interim? So that's also been interesting and we're doing that now. What can we change? What can we make longer? Maybe the tables aren't so close together. Maybe we say to ourselves, maybe we won't have 15 adults sitting. Maybe we can only provide 8 or 10 with less seating capacity because we know now that they'll come and take the books and leave, right. They may not be able to stay there because of, you know, so that's the kind of things that — well, yeah, COVID has changed a lot.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4269.0,4332.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/124","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: That's just incredible insight. Thank you so much for all of this info. I feel like you've given us a glimpse into a part of the library world that most people have no idea about when they walk into a building.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4332.0,4347.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/125","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Very true.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4347.0,4347.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/126","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: So is there anything else that you want to make sure we talk about before we close out?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4347.0,4354.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/127","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Well, I do want to say that I think this whole project and — spearheaded by you, Natalie, is amazing. I've known about it before. I mean, Far Rockaway is an excellent, excellent place where people came up to us, patrons, and they wanted something about the neighborhood. And we thought about you and your whole Memory Project. And we were short on space, but we said, \"How?\" A computer — I mean, a kiosk of some kind that people can do the very thing that I'm doing right now and talk about their experience and their neighborhood. So that I think is amazing. Thank you for the opportunity. And I think it's amazing, the work that you do and continue to do. And I'm — I did it for the Queens Library, but I also did it for you because you're at the helm of it, so, that's all I wanted to add.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4354.0,4412.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/128","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Aw, thank you so much. Thank you. That was very sweet. All right. Well, I guess we can close out for today. Thank you, Chantal, so much for your time.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4412.0,4421.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/129","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Thank you, Natalie. Thank you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4421.0,4423.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/130","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: And happy anniversary to Queens Public library.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4423.0,4426.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/131","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Yes. Happy anniversary. It's 125 years, huh?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4426.0,4431.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/132","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Natalie Milbrodt: Uh-huh, sure is. All right. Thanks.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4431.0,4433.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872/transcript/34290/annotation/133","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Chantal Antoine: Bye.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1432/collection_resources/55146/file/128872#t=4433.0,4435.234"}]}]}]}