Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/1010198
14 T M C » P U L S E | A U G U S T 2 0 1 8 Q | What do you consider your landmark achievement as the city's chief librarian? A | The Gregory School, when I arrived in Houston, was all boarded up. It was the first school for 'colored' children in Houston. Then- Mayor Bill White said I had to make that the African American library and I said, 'No problem.' I still point to the Gregory School as my best work because I did it with such passion and love. Q | What are your goals at this point in your career? A | We need a new central library because Houston deserves it. While I love going to the University of Houston and Alley Theatre and Texas Southern University to do our programs, why can't we have our own auditorium? What would be a more welcoming space than a 21st century central library? A new library is about understanding the city and understanding the problems of the city. We have a woefully inad- equate budget that got decimated even more during the recession and is still trying to crawl its way back. The victory that I have in this position is that I have an amazing team and we continue with 'One Houston, One Library,' where we are looking at equity. We want libraries across the geography of the city to have top-notch service and fully adequate staff. Q | What is the mission of the Houston Public Library Foundation? A | The Houston Public Library Foundation raises money for us to do programs. The founda- tion finds sponsors for programs including Camp STREAM—which stands for science, tech- nology, reading, engineering, arts and mathe- matics. It's a week-long, free summer camp. The foundation needs greater support. Q | How can people in the community provide more support to the Houston Public Library? A | If they want to make a difference in com- munities across Houston, invest in the library because we are everywhere. Whether you need a gathering place, if you want to make an impact on latchkey kids after school, if you want to invest in helping our collections grow so that they will be more robust for the researcher or make story times available for emerging literacy, we're that place. Spotlight Houston Public Library Executive Director Rhea Brown Lawson, Ph.D., was interviewed by Pulse Assistant Editor Cindy George. The conversation was edited for clarity and length. Libraries transform lives. A library is one of the last standing places where every- one is welcome. It's a symbol of democracy. If you believe in equality and equity, you believe in libraries. No matter what your stage in life, the library is there for you.