[New-York-News] Farewell and an interview with Nefertiti Matos

Sat Dec 4 17:44:32 UTC 2021

Farewell Nefertiti!

Today I write with bittersweet news for us, and hearty congratulations to
our colleague, patron and friend. Nefertiti Matos will be ending her time
with us as an assistive technology trainer on December 10 to pursue a
passion (no spoilers: keep reading to hear it in her own words!).

>From our tech coaching program’s inception as a volunteer-run service,
Nefertiti has been a wellspring of information, encouragement, creativity
and good cheer in our community. Many of you have gotten to know her
through one-on-one coaching in English and Spanish, where she invested in
the technology goals of library patrons with patience, perseverance and
high expectations. Others will remember her powerful presence on library
podcasts, videos, and instructional tracks. Nefertiti conceived, curated
and led some of our most popular workshops including our Online Shopping
offering and the widely popular, wide-ranging High and Low-Tech Tools for
Fitness.

As a colleague, Nefertiti demonstrates tremendous integrity, phenomenal
improvisational skills and a buoyant spirit. She’s been instrumental in the
success of everything we do, from our Tech, Culture and Community Fairs to
our Visible Lives oral history initiative to the Dimensions Project
launched in 2017. I will always appreciate Nefertiti for holding herself
and the staff and patrons around her accountable to be our best selves and
achieve the goals we say we want to pursue. We’ll miss her almost as much
as we are excited to see how her next adventure unfolds.

Nefertiti welcomes correspondence after the 10th at her personal email:
MsNefertitiMatos at nypl.org

And now, in the spirit of making this last memory as rich as all the
others, here’s an informal exit interview with Nefertiti.
How did you first get involved with the library?

I became blind at a very young age, so audiobooks and books in braille

have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. However, it

wasn’t till adulthood that I started to pay attention to an urge which

demanded that I do more for the blind and low vision community. I

learned about a group of advocates working hard to make the Andrew

Heiskell Library into a space where blind people could come together

to take advantage of a beautiful braille collection, advance their

tech skills, and commune with one another. I joined the effort as a

volunteer, and just over a year later, had the privilege of becoming a

member of the staff. It was one of the most rewarding choices I have

made to date.
What's one thing that surprised you/something unexpected you learned

from working at the library?

I always suspected that the education I received at the blind schools

I attended was lacking, but I was unprepared for just how much of a

deficit there was in my mathematics knowledge. When the Dimensions Lab

opened to the public, and we began offering 3D printing courses, I

found myself in a mad dash to learn a tremendous amount of

information, only to turn around and teach it straight away. That was

a very stressful time for me, but I learned so much about pushing

limitations, and teaching through example. It felt good to know that

we were all in something together, breaking barriers and actively

doing our part to demolish the “image poverty” that prevails in the

blind and low vision community.
Can you share one or two of your favorite memories from your years of

working here?

I can recall feeling rather triumphant when a patron told me that he

would be helping a friend learn Voiceover on the iPhone because it had

changed his life. To think that this was the same person who I

literally had to stop from throwing his iPhone against a wall mere

months before… I am particularly proud of the work I’ve done with

patrons who speak Spanish. By improving their tech prowess, a great

number of them have gone onto independently apply for citizenship,

enroll in English-language courses, communicate with family members

living in other countries, and even find love!
You're leaving the library as a staff member, but you're still a patron. As
a patron, what are your hopes for the library in the future?

My hope is that NYPL continues to place an emphasis on that all may

access. Blind folks are some of the most highly-educated and well-read

people, and I believe this is something that needs to be acknowledged,

encouraged, celebrated, and amplified.
Tell us about your next chapter. How did you start to explore the world of
video description, and what do you want to accomplish in your new role?

As an avid consumer of audio description, I became aware of what felt

to me as a growing trend. Though this art form was thought up by blind

people to benefit blind people, I was hearing very little about actual

blind people being involved in its creation. That did not sit well

with me at all, and it definitely piqued the interest of my more artsy

side. I enrolled in a voice-over academy, and began making inroads

into audio description specifically with an emphasis on

Spanish-language materials. The opportunity to be Partnerships

Development Coordinator for Dicapta, a provider of high-quality

caption and description services, really feels like it came at the

perfect time given my current interests. My hope is to continue

raising awareness of how impactful audio description can be for all

segments of the population, and to help Spanish-language audio

description evolve.
Can you leave us with one last book recommendation?

I have way too many book recommendations! How about I share what I’m

currently reading instead? The Last House on Needless Street by

Catriona Ward. Book number DB 105260. This is a creepy one folks! In

this house, no one is who you think they are, not even the cat. There

is something very wrong right from the start which makes me feel

uneasy. I kind of like that though. If you like feeling unsettled, if

you like stories where nothing is as it seems, if you appreciate

unreliable narrators and want something complex and multilayered, give

this one a try.

-- 
Chancey S. Fleet
Assistive Technology Coordinator
Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library
(212) 621-0627
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