In Serving Migrants at Ground Zero, adult services framed the session, but children appeared in almost every example. They waited with parents for city ID cards, read bilingual comics while adults filled out forms, listened to storytime in hotel kitchenettes, entered local schools without supplies, and needed swimsuits and locks for a public pool. Fatma Ghailan and Rosemary Kiladitis were unable to attend, so Tejas Desai and Marco Castillo of Queens Public Library and Lauren Comito of Brooklyn Public Library carried the session. Their accounts showed how far library service can stretch when families arrive under unstable conditions and public systems do not communicate clearly. Children’s service belongs in the middle of this response.
Children Inside Adult Services
Queens opened an IDNYC office at its Central Library to help newly arrived migrants secure identification and city benefits. Staff translated across multiple languages, shared bilingual English-learning tools, and handed children comics in English and bilingual editions so that children could begin learning words alongside their parents. When staff realized that some adults could not read or write in their own language, Queens added literacy classes to meet that need.
Children’s and family librarians should see the family dimension here. A parent’s access to language and literacy shapes a child’s access. At Cambria Heights, a children’s librarian started an ESL conversation group, and the response grew so quickly that the branch had to bring in department-level instructors and build out more formal classes. Children’s staff often see family need first. We should count that response as children’s service, not as a detour from it.
Storytime Beyond Library Buildings
Comito offered one of the strongest examples in the session. While her Brooklyn branch was closed for construction, staff were already doing neighborhood outreach from a wagon. When a family shelter opened in her service area, she went in, asked what families needed, and started bringing books and library cards directly to the hotel. She built out a Spanish-language collection, made cards onsite, and ran bilingual storytime in a hotel kitchenette while families collected meals nearby and National Guard members held babies.
We say that we meet families where they are. Comito’s example gave the phrase a concrete form: a wagon, a blanket, a stack of bilingual books, and a willingness to offer storytime in a room that was never designed for children. The hotel became a library service point because staff made it one.
Language Access, Safety, Family Service
The speakers treated language access as direct service to children and families. Queens used volunteer translation, Google Translate, bilingual apps, ESOL instruction, and literacy classes across a large branch network. At one point, communication ran from Wolof to French to English. Comito said she often had to explain what a public library is and that families could enter without a card or a fee. Access often begins with explanation.
Safety shaped the service model. As ICE activity increased in surrounding communities, libraries adjusted delivery and publicity. Some Know Your Rights content moved online. Some libraries folded it into broader public-facing programs on health or nutrition so that families could attend without drawing unnecessary attention. Program design and program naming can affect whether families feel safe enough to enter the room.
Childhood, Joy, Dignity
One of the clearest moments in the session came when Comito recounted collecting school supplies in May, when no seasonal drives exist, because children in the hotel needed to enter local schools. She then described collecting swimsuits and locks so that children could use a nearby public pool. She said it plainly: children need more than survival. They need joy.
Children’s librarians should carry this point with them. Library responses to migration can begin with information, referrals, and legal resources. They cannot end there. Children need books, school access, language support, play, and ordinary childhood childhood experiences. Storytimes, cultural programs, bilingual books, school supplies, and pool access are part of a complete response.
Leadership Sets the Frame
The closing Q&A brought one more point into focus. Queens’s chief librarian said that staff did not resist this service model. Staff wanted to do more, and leadership helped by framing migrant service as ordinary library service for the library’s newest neighbors. This framing keeps children visible within the larger institutional response. It centers family service in the library’s mission.
If a library response to migration includes paperwork but not stories, referrals but not reading, and intake but not childhood, the response remains partial. Children are present in these crises from the start. Children’s service belongs in the middle of the response.
Witt Salley (he/him/his) is the Teen Services Librarian at Quince Orchard Library in Montgomery County Public Libraries. At PLA 2026, he is most looking forward to meeting colleagues whose work he has been learning from online, making new connections, and serving on the Aging Together and DigitalLearn panels. He grew up surrounded by children’s and young adult books and spent so many hours in the public library that working with teens and youth literature felt almost inevitable. If he could read one book again for the first time, he would choose Weetzie Bat for its originality and the joy of first reading it.
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This article really highlights the important role libraries play in serving migrant families. It’s great to see how they adapt to meet the diverse needs of children in these challenging situations.
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This article really highlights the crucial role libraries play in serving migrant families. It’s heartening to see how they go above and beyond to meet the diverse needs of these families, especially the children.