NYC Library Leaders Testify Against Proposed Cuts

Queens Library draws supporters to rally at City Hall

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 05/29/2009

• 22% cut would be devastating
• Library leaders say use increases
• Council member optimistic about restoration of some funds

Chanting “Save our libraries,” more than 120 people, a rainbow coalition wearing Queens Library (QL) hats and t-shirts, rallied yesterday outside City Hall in New York City, as a prelude to a City Council committee hearing in which leaders of the city’s three library systems testified about the enormous damage a pending 22% budget cut would have on their operations.

Five City Council members attended, including Vincent Gentile, chair of the subcommittee on libraries, as did union leaders from all three library systems. They carried handmade signs as well as professionally made versions that said “Save Queens Library Funding” and “Slow Economy = Busy Libraries.”

Queens Library CEO Tom Galante told LJ that, while the library organizes regular lobbying events—a rally drew nearly 300 last week in Queens and a petition drive has drawn 80,000 signatures—this was the first time they took it to the steps of City Hall. The rally was orchestrated by Jimmy Van Bramer, Queens Library’s Chief External Affairs Officer (and a City Council candidate himself).

(At right, Galante speaks, with Council Members Diana Reyna and David Weprin behind him. Photos by Norman Oder.)

Council comments
“I will do everything in my power to see we don’t have these layoffs,” declared Weprin, chair of the Finance Committee. “In tough times, we need libraries more than ever.”

“Where will our unemployed go, if not for our libraries,” observed Reyna.

“Rough economic times are going to require some tough choices,” Gentile said, but that “only makes libraries more important. We make the tough choices but we make the tough choices in favor of libraries.” He told LJ he was “fully confident” part of the proposed budget cut would be reversed and “more and more confident” a full reversal was possible.

“I do think the administration loves libraries,” Galante commented, “but there are a lot of competing interests.” The budget must be approved by June 30, and typically some of the administration's proposals to cut libraries are reversed.

BPL testimony
If the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) absorbs the full $17.5 million cut, it would have to eliminate nearly 25% of its full-time work force, cutting as many as 272 positions through a combination of layoffs and attrition, according prepared testimony from executive director Dionne Mack-Harvin. The part-time workforce would be cut by half, eliminating 250 more jobs. 

Service would be cut nearly in half, to 25 hours per week, with six-day service only at two of 60 facilities. The materials budget would be cut almost 40%, meaning that 180,000 fewer books would be purchased. The cut, she said, would “create holes in our collection that will take years to fill.”

The cuts in the operating budget compound a 30% cut to BPL’s capital budget this year, which came after a 20% deferral imposed last year.

“As we approach the 2010 fiscal year, the stakes could not be higher,” Mack-Harvin said, noting the well-documented increase in library use. She brought with her Elizabeth Condon, a student in BPL’s Adult Literacy Program, to testify about how the library has helped her.

(Note that the library directors in their testimony cited the cut as 21%; LJ has reported 22%, according to p. 17 of New York City's Financial Plan summary [PDF].)

NYPL testimony
Paul Le Clerc, president and CEO of the New York Public Library (NYPL), said that the proposed cut “would be greater than the cuts in the 70’s when the City was bankrupt,” according to his prepared remarks.

LeClerc cited a “system-wide surge in use,” noting that the percentage of unemployed patrons visiting NYPL in February and March was three times higher (23.1%) than the state’s unemployment rate (8.4%).

Beyond the city cut of $28.2 million, he noted that the libraries face a 9% cut in state funding, and NYPL faces a reduction in private revenues of approximately $20 million, nearly three-quarters as much as the proposed city reduction.

Most facilities, he noted, would operate on a four- or five-day schedule, while in smaller cities—he cited San Diego, Houston and nearby Yonkers—offer six-day service. NYPL would lose at least 435 jobs, nearly 20% of its staff.

“The greatest impact would be felt by the four most vulnerable groups served by the Library: children, seniors, immigrants and disadvantaged communities,” he said. For example, while seniors often use libraries in the morning, many of the morning hours would be cut.

The proposed budget cut, he said, “would essentially cripple the library’s ability to deliver the services that the people of this city are demanding in record numbers.”

QL testimony
QL’s Galante warned, “[w]e are in the fight of our lives with pending budget cuts that threaten to drastically cut service hours, particularly eliminating weekend service at every community library, and possibly reducing our staff by over 300 positions—a staggering 31%.”

(Pictured is Weprin speaking at the rally, with the library union heads from Brooklyn and Queens between Galante and Reyna.)

“Despite the cuts we have already sustained, looming budget reductions and some anxiety about the future; we continue to go about the business of enriching lives while refusing to sacrifice our exceptional customer service which is the reason that we have been able to maintain our position as the highest circulating public library in the United States,” Galante testified.

“Each and every day, we are reminded by our customers of how essential our 62 libraries have become to the sustainability of communities and families,” he said. “People enter our doors with hope in their pockets and we ask for nothing in return.”