Eye on Alumni

Caroline Ashby (M.S.L.I.S. ’09)

Chief Librarian, Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library

As chief librarian at the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, one of the New York Public Library system’s 90 branches, Caroline Ashby manages a complex system for distributing reading material to approximately 12,000 users throughout the five boroughs and Long Island with visual or other print disabilities. The library’s collection includes 15,000 braille books and 71,000 digital audio books and its staff fields more than 1,500 calls a month from patrons who do their library transactions mostly by phone. Caroline Ashby explains how her Pratt education prepared her to run this complex operation.

Text and Production: Abigail Beshkin
Video: Jonathan Weitz