Borrowed

In 1996, we were one of the first libraries in the nation to connect our patrons to the internet. Today, we're extending our WiFi reach down the block, loaning hotspots, and archiving hyperlocal websites for the future. 

A lot had changed since Melvil Dewey came up with a classification system to organize all known and not-yet-known knowledge into a string of numbers and search terms. And yet, hundreds of thousands of libraries use the same system to this day, often preserving out-dated and offensive terms. In this episode, we take a look at what has changed—and what hasn't—in our library catalog.

Libraries weren't always located in their own stately buildings. Many of our branches used to operate out of pharmacies, laundry rooms, storefronts, and more! In celebration of our first new branch in nearly forty years—Adams Street Library, located in a former factory in DUMBO—we're bringing you stories of new libraries in old places. 

On October 5th, 2021, all three public library systems in New York City eliminated late fines. The change was 125 years in the making, and it made us think: why did public libraries start charging late fines in the first place? And how will the library have to adapt now that we're truly free and truly for all? 

In this season of Borrowed, we’ll take a look at what the library was like 125 years ago, the radical ideas that founded public libraries across the country, as well as our missteps along the way. 

The story of Canarsie in reverse, from the racial unrest in the 1990s, to the anti-integration school boycotts in the 1960s, the community of Canarsie's Black residents in the 19th century, all the way back to Brooklyn's first residents, the Native Lenape people, who gave the neighborhood its name. 

In the early 1900s, if you walked around Sunset Park, you might have heard Finnish being spoken on the streets. That's because the neighborhood was home to the largest concentration of Finns in New York City, and though most have since gone from Brooklyn, they left behind their co-operative spirit. The Finns built the first non-profit co-operative apartment buildings in the nation, many of which are still standing today.

Brooklyn is constantly changing. This episode takes a look at the changes on just one street in one neighborhood: Eighth Avenue in Sunset Park, which many call Brooklyn's Chinatown. In the early 1990s, BPL and the Museum of Chinese in America collected oral histories about Sunset Park. We dive back into that archive, with help from Professor Tarry Hum, urban planner and former Sunset Parker.

At the start of World War II, 200 women were employed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. That number ballooned to 7,000 at the height of the war, but afterward—women workers were gone as rapidly as they appeared. We tell the story using oral histories from women who worked at the yard, and an interview with author Jennifer Egan, who helped create the collection and used it as research for her award-winning novel, Manhattan Beach.

In the middle of the 20th century, a ten square block area in North Gowanus was home to the largest Mohawk settlement outside of Canada. We hear about the Mohawk women who built that community while their husbands and fathers were building skyscrapers. And, we go back hundreds of years in Gowanus and tell the story of the original inhabitants of Brooklyn: the Lenape people, who gave the neighborhood its name.