Drastic Cuts Mitigated in NYC, But Many Libraries Lose a Day of Service, Job Cuts Unknown
By Norman Oder Jul 1, 2010In Los Angeles, the recent loss of a day of library service was seen (along with associated cuts) by advocates as a disaster. But in New York City, libraries and library advocates are portraying the recent budget settlement, in which many branches in the three systems are losing a day of service, as a relative victory, given that threatened major branch closures have been averted.
Still, while the libraries cumulatively faced a cut described as between $75 million and $77 million, some $61.8 million was restored in budget negotiations (see the seventh page of this document).
But the loss of perhaps $15 million must be absorbed. Thus, although no job cuts have been announced, it's likely positions will be eliminated and some of the 650 or so staffers given layoff notices will not see them rescinded.
"QL [Queens Library] and BPL [Brooklyn Public Library] staff members are still operating under active layoff notices," stated the worker activists at Save NYC Libraries. "Please keep checking this page—we will update you as we receive new information."
"This is pretty remarkable in the middle of this deep recession," Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, a former QL staffer, told the New York Daily News.
The City Council last week announced that library service "will be preserved across the City at five days a week," without acknowledging that it was a loss of service.
From NYPL
"While service will be reduced to an average of five days a week, we would not be at this point without your remarkable advocacy efforts," NYPL's advocacy website told supporters.
"As a result of this year's city budget cut, NYPL will be going from six day service to five days at many libraries across The Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island," spokeswoman Angela Montefinise told LJ. "We are grateful to the Council and the Mayor for restoring enough funds to avoid the worst-case scenario of closing libraries or dropping service to as low as three days systemwide," she said. "Unfortunately, the fact remains that programs and services will still be cut."
Montefinise said more information would be made available shortly. NYPL, unlike the sibling libraries, had not sent out 90-day layoff notices, which suggested it was expecting a budget restoration and/or would not move to cut staff quickly via layoffs.
In Queens
Queens Library, in a statement to supporters, said, "Mayor Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Quinn and the entire City Council had an incredibly difficult task passing a budget in this tough fiscal climate that preserves core services for New Yorkers. We thank them for making libraries a priority, for ensuring every one of our libraries remains open an average of five days a week. The budget restores over $17 million to Queens Library for FY 11."
But the library had faced cumulative cuts of about $28.4 million, including $11.5 million cut in FY 10 and an additional $16.9 million proposed for FY 11, according to spokeswoman Joanne King.
"We know beyond a doubt that this will save hundreds of jobs. We will be processing the numbers over the next several days to determine exactly how many layoff notices can be retracted," King told LJ. "We are very grateful to the Mayor, the Speaker, the Committee Chair, and the whole City Council for saving service and saving jobs."
In Brooklyn
Brooklyn Public Library got back $17.2 million of what the Daily News described as a $20.6 million cut.
"While we are still working out logistics in terms of staffing, we do know that our libraries will have five-day or six-day service, with two libraries having seven-day service," spokeswoman Malika Granville told LJ. "We should have more concrete information for you by next week."
