The Friends of the Library’s FOL University program returns on Sunday, Nov. 1, at 1:30 p.m. in the library meeting room. Modeled on the concept of a one-day university, this event features lectures by two scholars on timely and fascinating topics.
The first lecturer will be Sree Sreenivasan, chief digital officer (CDO) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, speaking on “Crossing the Digital Divide: How the Met is moving beyond its physical walls while preserving its incredible legacy.”
Sreenivasan is the first CDO at the Met, the latest step in what he calls “a three-decade, one-way love affair with one of the world’s great museums.” He leads a team of 70 who work to shape the institution’s social, mobile and online future.
He spent 20 years as a faculty member of the Columbia Journalism School, where he remains an adjunct professor, and a year as the university’s first CDO. In 2015, he was named to Fast Company’s list of 100 Most Creative People in Business.
Following a brief intermission and refreshments, Robert W. Snyder, associate professor of journalism and American studies at Rutgers University-Newark, will discuss his recent book, Crossing Broadway: Washington Heights and the Promise of New York City.
This illustrated lecture will look at the history of 20th-century New York City through the prism of Washington Heights. In a neighborhood where Broadway was long seen as a boundary between ethnic groups of Jews, Dominicans, Irish and African Americans, it eventually overcame mutual suspicions to work together and rehabilitate housing, build schools, restore parks and reduce crime.
Professor Snyder, author of several other books, writes widely on New York City and works with museums, broadcasters and filmmakers to share history with a broad public.
“We are so pleased to offer library patrons these two fascinating lectures,” said Ellen Zimmerman, an FOL vice president and cochair of FOL University. “FOL U, along with the dozens of other programs that the Friends of the Library sponsors each year, is supported by the generous donations of library patrons, and we do seek event sponsors.”
For more information, visit www.pwpl.org/fol or email fol@pwpl.org.
