Libraries in NYC Protest Proposed Massive Budget Cuts

Rally outside City Hall, warnings of devastating impact

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 04/20/2010

• $82 million over two years
• Hours could be cut nearly in half
• Potential closings
• Hundreds of layoffs
• Budget endgame hasn’t yet arrived 

For libraries in New York City, it’s waiting time, as potentially devastating cuts in Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s proposed FY2011 budget await restoration, in whole or in part, during budget negotiations with the City Council. The cumulative cuts over two years would total more than $82 million.

Representatives of the libraries gave testimony March 16 about the enormous impact of the cuts—major cuts in hours and even closures—and last week attended a rally outside City Hall, during National Library Week. 

Among the supporters were Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Council Members Vincent Gentile and Jimmy Van Bramer, noted advocates for libraries, among 16 Council Members, and library union leaders. Both the Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Library brought their bookmobiles.

Gentile asked, “When budget proposals include a funding cut to our libraries—and let’s be honest, that’s cutting our support of literacy, of culture, of technology, of education, of a community cornerstone—we must demand answers to some questions: ‘Literacy, culture, technology…Are those things negotiable? Aren’t those things priorities?’”

(Gentile speaks at right, with Van Bramer in the foreground.)

Advocacy efforts
All three libraries have stepped up their advocacy. There’s Save Queens Library and Brooklyn Public Library’s Keep Your Library Open, while the New York Public Library has highlighted President Paul LeClerc’s testimony.

Queens testimony
“It is not an exaggeration to say that the FY'11 preliminary budget proposal is nothing short of devastating,” Tom Galante, Queens Library CEO, told the City Council. “The cuts on the table would force hundreds of workers onto the unemployment rolls and cause libraries in communities throughout the borough to be closed more days per week than they are open.”

Queens Library would lose $14.4 million in the next budget; combined with cuts of $8 million in July and $3.5 million early this year, that would mean a reduction from FY’08 to FY’11 of $25.9 million, or 27%.

Under Bloomberg’s proposal, 24 community libraries would be closed five days a week and open two days, while another 24 libraries would be closed four days a week and open three days. Average weekly hours would decline to 25 hours, a nearly 50% cut from 47 hours per week in 2008. And closings would be considered.

The library would have to lay off 350 employees in July, a 38% reduction in the workforce. And there would be further deep reductions in books purchased, programs, building maintenance, furniture, and needed equipment.

Brooklyn testimony
Dionne Mack-Harvin, Executive Director of Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), spoke proudly of offering full-day six-day service at all 58 neighborhood libraries, with an average of 44 hours of weekly service.

However, BPL has had to cut staff through layoffs, voluntary retirements, and frozen vacancies and also cut 12%, or $3.4 million, on spending for books, technology, supplies, staff development, and other variable expenses.

Though BPL is currently coping with a 4%, or $3.6 million, mid-year cut, it is committed to maintaining six-day library service through the end of this fiscal and school year. Thus it has eliminated service hours between 9–10 a.m. at every neighborhood library 

For FY 2011, cuts would mean “an astronomical $23.6 million reduction compared to the FY 2010 Adopted Budget.” Under the worst-case scenario, BPL would have to lay off 363 people, more than 30% of its current workforce. 

BPL would provide five-day, weekday-only service at 29 neighborhood libraries, and full-day six-day service at 12 libraries. Only two locations would offer seven-day service. And BPL would have to temporarily close 16 neighborhood libraries. “Brooklynites would be denied access to the library services they need and deserve,” Mack-Harvin warned.

NYPL testimony
Paul LeClerc, President and CEO of NYPL, said he’d never faced a situation as potentially dire as this one, calling the proposal “staggering.” Overall, NYPL would face a $33 million cut, including a FY 2010 mid-year reduction of $5.9 million and more.

“This will require drastic reductions in service to an already slimmed-down system that is nearly at its breaking point, at a time when libraries are serving more people, in more diverse kinds of ways, than we ever have before,” he said.

NYPL is now down to an average of 45 open hours per week for its branches, with only one circulating library open on Sundays in each borough. With the proposed cuts, NYPL would lose 650 FTE positions, and service hours would go to an average of three or four days per week, nearly in half. 

The proposed cut, he said, would “essentially wipe out decades of progress made by our library system.”