Description
- Abstract:
- Oral history interview with Sandra (Stone) Oliviera about working for the Fox Point Library and the importance of the library to the Fox Point neighborhood of Providence, RI.
- Notes:
- Sandra (Stone) Oliviera has been the Library Clerk at Fox Point Library since June 29, 1987. Oliviera was born in Pawtucket, RI on July 18, 1949. Although she grew up in East Providence, Oliviera first encountered the Fox Point neighborhood as a child. Her aunt worked at the Davol Rubber Company on Point Street and the family would drive through Fox Point to drop her off at work. Despite admonitions that it was a rough area, Oliviera was fascinated by the neighborhood. After graduating from East Providence High School, Oliviera married, had two daughters and was a stay-at-home mom for many years. She entered librarianship unexpectedly after volunteering at her daughters school library where the shorthanded school librarian trained her in the field. With this experience, Oliviera applied for and was offered a job as library clerk at the Fox Point Library. As with many stay-at-home mothers entering the workforce for the first time, Oliviera worried that employers would pass over her due to her lack of experience. However, with the large number of families with children in the neighborhood and the location of the library underneath the Boys and Girls Club, Oliviera's experience with children was ideally suited for the position. Although Oliviera enjoyed her work at the library, she was initially worried about the rough neighborhood outside. Although her recollections of human waste on the library stairs and the incidences of drug interactions in the library courtyard partly substantiate this, Oliviera soon came to appreciate the close-knit and family oriented community in Fox Point. Oliviera and her coworkers strove to make the library a safe place where all in the community would feel welcome. The leadership efforts of Yvonne Smart, a librarian who was sent to the branch to help clean it up, helped keep drug users off of library premises. In addition to the drug use and homeless populations surrounding the building, Oliviera discusses the arson of The Castro, a gay restaurant in the neighborhood, citing rumors that some in the neighborhood were not welcoming of gay institution. Other changing demographics include the decrease of Cape Verdeans and other Portuguese speakers, the increase of Brown and RISD residents in the area, and the rising rents which has caused a large turnover in residential and business tenants. For the most part, Oliviera talks of the centrality of the library to the Fox Point community, particularly since the library serves so many low-income patrons. In 2009, when Providence Public Library branches were facing closures due to budget shortfalls, communities around the neighborhood branches, including Fox Point, mobilized to fight the closures. As a result, on July 1, 2009, the nine branch libraries formed the Providence Community Library, breaking away from the Providence Public Library. This example of community activism demonstrates the importance of the library to community members. For many of her patrons, she knows three generations of their families and has provided them library assistance according to their changing needs. Oliviera speaks warmly of the importance of her work family and her neighborhood family. Passionate about libraries, Oliviera speaks at length about library services to the community, giving numerous examples of the value of the library to the community.
Citation
"Interview with Sandra (Stone) Oliviera"
(2010).
Fox Point Project.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:414269/
Relations
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Collection:
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Fox Point Project
Since 2008, students from the Brown Center for Public Humanities have worked with Professor Anne Valk on collaborative projects to preserve and present the cultural heritage and social history of the Fox Point neighborhood. An archival collection of oral history …...