Benjamin Egerman and Flory Gessner

BE talks about being a librarian.

FG talks about their library job in college and shares how that experience gave them sensitivity training on homelessness.

FG talks about interacting with people and helping them find things to do in the library.

FG asks BE their first memories of being in a library. BE talks about being at the public library and always enjoying their time there.

BE talks about writing his senior thesis on gay men in the 1840s and shares that he had to go to the American Antiquarian Society in Western Massachusetts. He remembers the archivists being excited and handing him materials. He shares that it was a very exclusive experience and he needed to have a letter from his advisor to get into the door.

BE talks about finding materials at the library and shares that he was pulled into the idea of the library being a place for serious work and research but also for personal reasons.

BE talks about a presentation he did about the Stonewall uprising.

BE: "To me it's a magic thing about libraries."

BE talks about wanting to tell the next nerdy, gay, Jewish kid that they can have a stable adult life. FG talks about the public library being a place where everyone is welcome.

FG remembers marching at the Pride Parade and shares that people were excited to see them. BE: "Libraries have often been a special place for queer people and I think the joy is in something we both try and do, which is to highlight that and to really build off that. Make it an even better place for queer people."