 My name is Karen Roy and I'm the Director of the San Francisco Department of Child Support Services. My relationship with the public library started when I was 10 years old in the Bronx. My brothers and I were walking home from school one day when a car pulled up and a man pointed a gun at my brothers and I and demanded that I get into the car. At the same time a lady walked up and immediately stood between the gunman and me and shouted at him to leave us alone. The gunman sped away. Miss Giordano, who stopped and risked her life for mine, was a superhero and Miss Giordano was a librarian. After the incident she walked us home and spoke to my parents about my joining the Super Kids After School program at the Parkchester branch of the New York Public Library. My brothers and I spent hours in the library reading, helping at the counter and participating in read aloud circles. Because I loved poetry, Miss Giordano introduced me to African American poets and writers like Langston Hughes, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Nicky Giovanni and Maya Angelou. When I first moved to Oakland I volunteered as a tutor at the Adeline branch of the Oakland Public Library where I met many young people who would come in for help with their homework. As a volunteer I drew upon my early lived experience to help students overcome their reluctance to dive into difficult materials. Later I served on the board of the Friends Stewards of the African American Museum and Library in Oakland helping to curate and preserve the stories of the African American experience in the Bay Area. Today I am a library commissioner for the Oakland Public Library where I find both community and a cause to celebrate the diversity and uniqueness of libraries. The library is a beacon of hope, opportunity and safety for so many black and brown children. It serves as a place of community that combats the loneliness and isolation that many seniors experience. It serves as a respite for people in need and a place to start a job search. And most importantly it serves as a place to dream big dreams, to learn new skills and find one's voice and of course to read, read, read. Your library card will give you superpowers. Pick one up at a branch near you.