Learning English is a primary need for new immigrants in the USA. Not knowing English can create communication obstacles for newcomers. The Jackson Heights Public Library in Queens is addressing this issue by offering an ESL program to teach English. The library is a great place for the diverse population of Jackson Heights to learn and read English.

The Jackson Heights Library is one of the busiest and the most diverse libraries in New York City. During the 80’s, the library was dominated by the European and Jewish communities. As diversity grew in the neighborhood, the library acquired new faces from all over the world.

“We have now people from the Native Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Africans, and majority of the customers are Latinos,” said Wel-Qing Dai, a Chinese American manager of the Jackson Heights Library since 2010.

The ESL program is the most popular regular program in the Jackson Heights Library. They offer different levels of ESL classes every day, including basic, intermediate, and advanced levels.

Besides the ESL program, over the years the library has offered more than a hundred different regular, weekly, and monthly programs, such as various cultural programs and festivals, citizenship programs, how to learn small business, how to buy houses, how to find jobs, and many more. Most of the programs use different languages including Chinese, Bengali, and Hindi.

“Last week we had the Pathway through the Citizenship Program to help new immigrants to apply for citizenship to teach about US history, and after that we had an Indian festival program,” said Dai.

The after school program for kids is another popular program in the library. Paula Lima brings her five-year-old boy three to four times a week to get help for his school homework, because she does not speak English at an advanced level. “This is a very helpful program and it is free,” said Lima.

The library has been a prominent and favorite place in the neighborhood. According to the Queens Library, “The Jackson Heights Branch of the Queens Borough Public Library opened at its present location on October 26, 1954. Extensive renovations occurred in 1970 and again in 1985.”

In the past, the library used to provide only newspapers, magazines and books; customers only came to read and borrow books. It offers various categories, including different foreign sections of Chinese, Korean, Russian, Portuguese, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, and a vast Spanish book collection.   

Now the library’s function is different and improved: customers can borrow a variety of multimedia in different genres, such as CDs in pop/ rock, world, country, holiday, religion, and sound tracks as well as DVDs and audio books. Also, there is a small computer section and three new self-check-in machines for books and multimedia, which add new benefits to the library services.

Viviana Nawla does not have a computer at home. She comes every day to the library to check her email and browse the Web for jobs. “I come to do different things in the library including brows and communicate with my family and others,” said Nawla.

Despite some modernization, the books and multimedia collections are not up-to-date and complete enough to fulfill all customer demands. The sections are quite small and have very limited books. Although the Jackson Heights Public Library offers an important service, the library manager Dai addresses that the funding is insufficient to satisfy the growing community. 

“Because of the budget cut, all Queens Public Libraries are closed on Sunday. Otherwise, we would have an extra day to serve the community,” said Dai.

MD. Maniruzzaman, a Bangladeshi, has come to the library since 2010. He likes to spend hours in the library’s quiet environment by reading psychology, literature and books on religion. However, he feels the library needs to enrich their book collections.

“A library should always carry new and updated books. Jackson Heights Library still has an insufficient book collection,” said Maniruzzaman with disappointment. “Sometimes if I need a book, I cannot get it because someone else may be borrowing it. The library has maybe only two copies of the book to give out.”