NY Libraries Remember 9-11, Carefully

Public and school libraries throughout New York City will take a low-key approach to commemorating the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. With the anniversary falling just one week after the start of the school year, librarians and teachers are being mindful of the added stress the day might bring to children.

Sandra Kennedy Bright, director of school library services for the New York City Board of Education, says the city's public school libraries have no special plans for September 11, but librarians may organize events on an ad hoc basis. School librarians, however, have put together a "comfort bibliography" listing numerous books on the subject, and schools already have copies of a booklet called "New York Needs Us Strong: Coping After September 11," distributed by Project Liberty, a state-run disaster recovery program.

Annie Thoms, a teacher of English and creative writing at Stuyvesant High School just blocks from Ground Zero, has written a play called with their eyes (see "One Year Later," pp. 44–45), based on stories told by students, teachers, and staff. In the weeks after the attacks, Thoms says her school was a beehive of activity. "The rescue workers stayed and ate here; the building kept going 24 hours a day," so images of that day remain fresh in students' minds. Teachers and parents, Thoms says, have been working with teams of psychologists to make the new school year less stressful.

Susan Pope, the children's librarian at the New York Public Library's Jefferson Market branch in Greenwich Village, had a clear view of the collapsing towers. Many students from neighboring schools took refuge in the library in the weeks after the attacks. "A lot of the kids were scared, probably as much by what they saw on TV as what they lived through," says Pope. "They wanted to check out light books, funny books, things to help them escape." With such firsthand experience of the day, Pope was unsure about the wisdom of holding a commemorative program for children.

In the end, an ideal opportunity presented itself—local filmmakers Greta Schiller and Andrea Weiss offered to show a 25-minute documentary, I Live at Ground Zero, which chronicles kids who were evacuated from their local schools. Some were forced to spend the remaining school year doubled up in neighboring schools, while others and their families had to live in hotels or with friends. The film will be shown at the Jefferson Market branch on September 11, and several students featured in it will be on hand to talk about their experiences and answer questions.