Social workers' presence in libraries is a growing trend across the United States. The two disciplines pair nicely together due to the shared goal of helping community members get access to services and improve their quality of life. In the spirit of this collaboration, The New York Public Library has students from local social work master’s programs intern at its branches. Patrons can seek them out for a myriad of reasons incuding referrals to service providers, assistance with housing and job searches, a friendly ear, and more.

Each school year brings a new set of enthusiastic students and we asked our 2021–2022 interns to offer some book recommendations. Unsurprisingly, their picks focus on social justice, personal growth, and books with lessons on empathy.

The intern at the Hamilton Grange branch on the west side of Manhattan recommends Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. This New York Times bestseller is from a lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. Stevenson recounts the story of a man on death row who was sentenced for a crime he did not commit, and explores the relationship between mercy and justice in our flawed judicial system. It has been adapted into a book for young adults and into a film released in 2020.

 

 

At Parkchester in the East Bronx our intern recommends Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb. Another New York Times bestseller and critically acclaimed non-fiction. The author is an advice columnist as well as a psychotherapist, and when she seeks out help for herself she delights in seeing the similarities between her own worries and those of her patients. The old adage proves true that to walk in another person’s shoes helps build empathy and understanding.

 

 

The intern at St. Agnes in west Manhattan recommends The Good Lord Bird by James McBride. This is a great choice for all of the historical fiction fans! It is based on true events that took place in Harper’s Ferry, VA during a slave uprising. Real life figure John Brown is featured as the abolitionist who incites the rebellion.

 

 

 

 

The intern at the Columbus branch in west Manhattan loves the book When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. It was published posthumously in 2016 because the author lost his battle with cancer, which was the subject of the book. Kalanithi was a neurosurgeon and a profound writer. With a similarity to Maybe You Should Talk To Someone, the doctor becomes the patient.

 

 

 

The intern at our newly opened Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library recommends A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. This book is certainly not little and its content packs a punch. It follows a fictional group of four young men, but our protagonist, Jude, is thrown the most obstacles throughout his life. This is a book about trauma and the ongoing struggle to live through the pain.

 

 

 

 

The social work intern at the Bronx Library Center recommends The Body Keeps The Score, an approach to healing from past traumas, by Bessel van Der Kolk as a non-fiction pairing to A Little Life (above). Trauma affects the brain and the brain affects our bodies and our actions. It takes work to change the way we think and Dr. van Der Kolk wants to help us through.

 

 

 

 

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom is a classic and Albom is a master of inspirational storytelling. This is the true story of the writer reconnecting with a professor, Morrie, who made a difference in his life. Morrie has gotten old and now he passes his wisdom down to his student who, in turn, shares it with the reader.

 

 

 

 

 

The intern at Aguilar in east Manhattan shared the nonfiction title The Mindbody Prescription by John Sarno. It is not only extreme trauma that affects our body’s functioning—stress and repressed emotions can cause physical pain, too. Dr. Sarno presents the research and theory in this influential book.

 

 

 

 

The intern in Harlem at Harlem Branch and Countee Cullen recommends taking your reading to the stage. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a play with some autobiographical elements. Our protagonist is a young woman of great fragility in mind and body who collects glass figurines. The mother character persists in finding a suitor for the daughter and exhausts us all with her fondness for the gentility of the past. It’s a domestic drama that uncovers the dysfunction behind a family that strives to appear “happy.”

 

 

 

Med Head: My Knock-Down, Drag-Out, Drugged-Up Battle With My Brain by James Patterson and Hal Friedman. You may know James Patterson as a prolific novelist, but he also writes plenty of nonfiction. This is the true story of a teenager, Corey Friedman, who confronted his dual diagnosis of OCD and Tourette’s Syndrome. It is a deeply personal account of struggle and courage.

 

 

 

 

The social work intern at Soundview in the East Bronx recommends  My Thirteenth Winter by Samantha Abeel. This is a memoir for young adults that focuses on Abeel's journey in understanding her learning disability diagnosis. It's yet another wonderful example of overcoming personal struggles.

 

 

 

 

Please inquire at the following NYPL locations to meet with a social worker before June 2022.

Parkchester
1985 Westchester Ave, Bronx
(516) 875-5802

Soundview
660 Soundview Ave, Bronx
(718) 589-0880

Bronx Library Center
310 E Kingsbridge Rd, Bronx
(516) 875-8248

Highbridge
78 W 168th St,Bronx 
(718) 293-7800

Aguilar
174 E 110th St, Manhattan
(212) 534-2930

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
455 5th Ave, Manhattan 

(516) 846-7680

Hamilton Grange
503 W 145th St, Manhattan
(516) 875-8557

Columbus
742 10th Ave, Manhattan
(516) 875-8539