Glen Cove librarian, an opportunity builder, educator on a national scale

She’s known beyond Glen Cove for what she does. What she does is she became a librarian to help people, to help her community, to help the Hispanic community.”

Kathy Flynn Glen Cove Library director

When asked what makes the head of the Literacy Department at Glen Cove Public Library, María Fernanda Pardo, a mover and shaker, library director Kathie Flynn said “I just stand back, say ‘yes’ and stay out of her way.” 

“She is definitely an incredible individual,” Flynn added. “She works hard, she knows what she wants to get done and she still comes up to me every other day saying ‘I have another idea for three more programs.’” 

The Library Journal, an American trade journal for librarians based in New York, announced its 46 2020 “Movers & Shakers” on May 6. The “Movers & Shakers” consist of librarians across the country who were recognized as change agents, innovators, educators, digital developers, advocates and community builders. 

Pardo, who is the fourth “mover” from Nassau County selected in the edition’s 20 years of publishing, was recognized as an educator, along with an opportunity builder. 

She was nominated by Nassau Library System Assistant Director Nicole Scherer in November. “When I came here in 2017, everyone was like ‘you have to meet María,” Scherer said. “There’s no real sense of competition here. It’s really about learning and sharing and she is just the most prime example of that.” 

Pardo, who resides in Sea Cliff, learned that she was selected in January but had to keep it a secret until the edition came out in May.

At Glen Cove Public Library, Pardo has organized an array of programs, many of which are designed for Glen Cove’s Hispanic community whose primary language is Spanish. The most popular program is called Vocab for Jobs that offers vocabulary words needed in specific occupations and English as a Second Language classes. 

Pardo is particularly passionate towards residents not fluent in English because of her own past experience. She arrived in the United States from Colombia when she was 27-years-old. 

“She said she felt like an illiterate,” Flynn said. “Not knowing the language can put you behind in so many ways. That was something she had empathy for, people currently going through that.” 

Pardo became a part-time librarian in 2011 and was promoted to full-time shortly after Flynn became the director in 2012. “When I got there I just looked at the community,” Flynn said. “I saw that 30 percent of our community spoke Spanish at home and I had a part-time bilingual librarian. So to me that just did not work out that well and within three or four months, I had her promoted to a full-time librarian and once I did that, she took off.” 

Pardo said that she’s been adding programs “little by little.” “I saw how there was a need for services in the Hispanic community and I started slow, building up collections and then I started some programs where we discussed books and movies in Spanish,” Pardo said. “We have increased the number of Hispanics who have come to the library. We have three group classes for ESL and I just started a literacy program in 2015 with a few volunteers and now I have 32 and they help one-on-one because there’s such limited space.” 

Most of the tutors are retired teachers or even former students of library programs themselves. “We all have something that we can teach, something that we can learn,” Pardo said. “We have become [a community] where tutors become students and students become tutors, which is wonderful. I think it’s great because we really are creating a community where everybody has something that they can offer.” 

But Pardo does not keep her resources, such as audio files and lists of vocabulary words for jobs, reserved for just Glen Cove residents. She shares it with other Nassau County libraries, which is a reason Scherer decided to nominate her. “Not every library has bilingual staff, so she makes sure that her resources go to anyone that could use them,” Scherer said. Adding that she nominated her because of the “caliber of the work she does, but also the commitment of her fellow professionals and the ability to raise the bar for libraries across the board.” 

“She’s known beyond Glen Cove for what she does,” Flynn said. “What she does is she became a librarian to help people, to help her community, to help the Hispanic community.” 

With Pardo’s programs, residents are not just able to learn vocabulary for jobs and the English language, they’re able to get help preparing for the U.S. Citizenship Test and their General Education Development degree, which is equivalent to a high school degree. Twenty Glen Cove Public Library patrons have passed the U.S. Citizenship Test with the help they received from the library. 

“It’s an amazing thing to see,” Flynn said. “To actually help someone in their life opportunities and options. And that’s what she’s done for so many people.” 

Many students and tutors are continuing to engage with one another online during the pandemic and programs are still being held through video-chat platforms like Zoom. “The library, we never close,” Pardo said. “We closed our doors because we had to, but all programs are continuing.” 

One of those programs is career development, which Pardo said will be useful because of the economic implications of Covid-19. “Most of us are working more now that we are home,” Pardo said. 

In the library, Flynn said that Pardo can often be found discussing needs of the community with residents. And even with doors closed. Pardo is still reaching out to residents, making sure that they can connect to programs. 

“It’s been a learning opportunity for all of us, but it can be done,” Pardo said.