New York City's Three Library Systems Face 22% Budget Cut
Queens Library, Brooklyn PL, and New York PL Would Lose Weekend Service
Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 5/6/2009
- 943 employees would be laid off
- Many branches would offer no weekend service
- City Council must approve budget by June 30
A drastic 22.2% cut in support for New York City’s three library systems has been proposed by Mayor Mike Bloomberg (see p. 17-18 of PDF), and library advocates are hoping that the City Council restores some or all of the reduction in order to avoid drastic decreases in service. The budget must be approved by June 30.
The executive budget released May 1 was not entirely a surprise; significant cuts were already on the table. However, plans floated in November 2008 and this past January proposed 702 layoffs and 148 slots lost by attrition; the latest plan adds 241 job cuts, leading to a total of 1091 jobs lost, including 943 layoffs.
Five days of service
At Brooklyn Public Library, the materials budget would be cut by 30% and service at most branches limited to five hours (1–6 pm) on weekdays, in order to serve students after school. New York Public Library (NYPL) would reduce average weekly hours of service from 52 to 32 and cut the materials budget by 26% in the Branch Libraries and 35% in the Research Libraries.
“These drastic reductions being proposed to our budget would devastate library service in Queens,” Queens Library Director Thomas Galante testified before the City Council in March, noting that every community library would be closed on weekends. “It is unthinkable that the greatest City in the world would see public library service brought to its knees... It is tragic that the Saturday and weekend library service that we all fought so hard to bring back is in jeopardy of being eliminated once again.”
“At the same time as we face this situation, library use is up,” NYPL spokesman Herb Scher told LJ, citing increases in both visits and circulation, a common phenomenon nationally. “At this time of economic difficulty, when our users are relying on us for crucial services, we feel it is important to keep library doors open, and we are hoping for substantial restorations.”
(See LJ Insider blog for some advocacy responses.)
