The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) system, today, joined in with the Queens and New York City Library systems along with hundreds of library patrons, volunteers, and union members wearing bright orange shirts at City Council Headquarters for the “Invest in Libraries” Lobby Day.
Specifically library advocates want the council to restore $65 million that they lost in discretionary funding over the last decade which resulted in library staff being slashed by over one thousand workers. They also want the city to add $1.4 billion in capital funding for critical renovations and maintenance.
“With restored funding from the City, Brooklyn Public Library would finally be able to open all 60 of our branches at least six days per week, allowing us to serve more patrons, provide more free public programs and introduce more Brooklynites to our vast print and digital collections,” said Brooklyn Public Library President and CEO Linda Johnson.
The lobbying move comes as the de Blasio Administration increased the libraries’ baseline expense budget last year for the first time in several years following years of cuts under the Bloomberg administration.
De Blasio also increased the libraries’ expense budget both in last year’s budget and again over the adopted budget – it is now $323 million. The overall library budget for the capital plan is $566.05 million – a significant capital funding increase he made last year.
“The de Blasio administration has made a clear commitment to our city’s public libraries by baselining and increasing funding in the Mayor’s first budget last year,” said de Blasio spokesperson Amy Spitalnick. “The Mayor’s FY16 Executive Budget will be released this spring. We also continue to work in close partnership with library leadership on major citywide initiatives, including IDNYC, universal pre-K, and much more.”
According to a recent Center for an Urban Future report the city ranked 7th out of the country’s ten largest cities in hour per week they are open.
