Bio
As a Chinese immigrant, Yang Zeng relied on her local library in Canada to help her acclimate to life in a new country. “I was so grateful for all that the library gave me, I knew I wanted to do that for others.” For 25 years, she perfected her craft working at several neighborhood branches throughout Brooklyn and Queens. In 2017, she was asked to be the Director of the Flushing Library in Queens, the busiest community library in the U.S. With a staff of almost 80, it has 5,000 visitors daily (1.7 million a year), a circulation of more than 1 million and 3,000 program offerings attended by 180,000 people. It is located in a neighborhood densely populated with immigrant communities from around the world and is an indispensable resource for its residents. Says one colleague, “Under Yang’s leadership, the Flushing Library is more than a community center. It is the center of the Flushing community.” Adds another, “The Flushing Library is not just an invaluable community resource, but a hub of democracy.
