It is with much enthusiasm that I would like to endorse Dr. Qiping Zhang as a write-in candidate for the Great Neck Library trustee position.
My family just moved to Great Neck from New York City a couple years ago.
The library has been a fun place for my family. While my kids have their own corner, and my parents stay upstairs to read their own books, I have a quiet moment for myself.
It is through the library that my parents and I got to know many neighbors and make new friends. That makes us feel more socially connected with this community. We started to love to go to our public library.
My parents started to attend the library English classes and made many friends coming from all over the world. They shared their own stories in the class, watch movies together in the library, and met outside the library to have some fun.
My parents have been so much happier and engaged in the community events ever since then.
Earlier this year, my child was struggling with making a decision whether or not she should continue with one of her honor classes in the school. She and I had different opinions and could not make a mutually agreed decision.
One day, a friend that I met in the library shared her experiences and suggested me to talk to Qiping because of the following reasons: 1. Qiping’s child was happened to be in the same program with my child; 2. She had a master’s degree in psychology and a PhD degree in Library & Information Science; 3. She has helped many families with different issues and is very well respected in this community.
From the first time I met with Qiping, we had a very thorough discussion about kid’s education, communication and the resources from the library.
First, she shared her experiences as being a leader for psychology counseling program for college students and explained the importance of knowing, evaluating and guiding students’ stress management. This reminded me how to access my child’s stress level and help her with the coping.
Second, Qiping introduced her child to my child. The two of them were able to discuss the class, share their own experiences with difficulties, challenges, and time management. With her child’s help, my child was able to have a much more comprehensive understanding of the program: the pros and cons, and the challenges and benefits.
Third, Qiping provided some suggestions about how to utilize resources and technologies from the library that can help my kid to obtain adequate and accurate information for the study.
Those were something that we had never known before. We always thought that a library is only a place for books but it actually had a lot more resources could be explored and utilized. My child took her advice and had obtained whatever information she needed for her study. Now she really enjoyed this honor class and doing very well.
Ever since then, Qiping still followed up with me and my child and see if we had any new problems coming up. Now, my child really enjoys the study of this class and is doing great. I also got to know a library is much more than just a collection of books. It is a bridge that inspires families to connect, learn and grow closer together in fun and meaningful ways!
It is October now, the season for the annual election for our Great Neck Library board of trustees again.
I was thrilled to know that Qiping announced her decision to be a write-in candidate for one of the four-year position. “With technology and social media permeating all aspects of family life, we need libraries more than ever as sanctuary spaces for intellectual inquiry and interactive community bonding”.
In the past five weeks, Qiping has hosted several seminars/lectures to serve our community including: 1. How to communicate with children effectively; 2. How the public library helped my kids grow; 3. Effective Community services story sharing (for her more than 10 years of community service); 4. South High School reading club lecture for high school students; and 5. Qiping’s Time (Q&A section to interact with people from our community).
Qiping’s curriculum vita illustrates the wonders of her achievements, but her commitment goes well beyond the print. It is remarkable that so many families that were touched through her help in Great Neck community.
Dr. Qiping Zhang is a candidate that I strongly recommend. She vows to devote herself to the library’s future vision and core community values: Inspiration, Education and Connection. Let our family go back to the library! Hence, please go to vote on October 29, 2018 and write down “Qiping Zhang” in the bottom of the first column of your ballot!
Emme Woo
Great Neck
