Gloomy tale of N.Y.'s libraries

[Rose Siding]

...Branch hours in the three systems that make up the city's libraries - the Brooklyn Public Library, the Queens Borough Public Library and the New York Public Library, which serves Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island - now average just 38 hours per week....Fewer than half of the city's libraries are open six days a week, and then only with staggered hours that keep doors open for as little as five hours on some days.
...
Demand - as measured by the number of books loaned every year - is climbing steadily in all three systems, especially in immigrant-heavy Queens, according to the latest Mayor's Management Report.

The real story, however, is told not by statistics but by the lines of people that now snake outside many city libraries before they open, a testament to both the high quality services they provide and the few hours they are open.

Talk to those in line and it is clear that libraries remain many things to many people: a resource for scholars, an air-conditioned haven for the elderly, a wondrous story land for toddlers, a gateway for immigrants trying to learn English or find a job. And all of it for free.

...(I)ncreases only brought the libraries back to where they were before 9/11, when deep cuts rippled through the system. After 9/11, Queens alone lost 130 staffers whose jobs have still not been replaced.

And if you go back to the early 1970s, the city's branches were open an average of 50 hours a week, compared with today's 38.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/441273p-371556c.html

[Democrats_win]

1. IMHO, libraries are the most visible victim of Repubs war on Americans.

Over the past few years we've seen unprecidented difficulties that libraries are having. One case was the closing of a Silinas, CA library. Salinas was made famous by John Steinbeck so the closing of this library was particularly shameful. Democrats posted a lot about the difficulties of that library.

http://www.salinas.lib.ca.us/body_library_news.html#FAQ

[Warpy]

4. It's a war on education, on literacy, on knowledge itself

and most of all, on the working class. Even libraries around here that are staying open are moving out shelves of books so they can move in more computers. Most of the time when I go to the library, the computers are stading idle while the shelf areas are full of browsers.

The libraries are the canary in the coalmine, IMO, the first place city managers look to cut costs. After all, nobody's going to die if they can't read a book. They might die if the fire department closes one day a week.

This used to be such a rich country before the few stole all the money from te rest of us.

[savemefromdumbya]

2. They should complain to the Mayor!

wasn't like that in Westchester County!

[oscar111]

3. Milton Friedman does not list libraries

"only three functions of government:

treasury

army

courts"


What a nazi

[ChristianLibrul]

5. Schools and libraries...

...are supported by the Treasury.

On the other hand, homeless people use library bathrooms, and often stay there all day reading newspapers and magazines, or just sleeping, especially in bad weather. Cutbacks affect them as well as those seeking education.

[oscar111]

6. Friedman meant to say

... IMHO... correct me if i am wrong...

that the Treasury is needed to print and regulate the supply of dollars.

The support for the librairies comes not from the Treasury, but from the treasure of tax revenues, which is channeled by other gov agencies. Libraries, their channeling is done by mostly local agencies. AFAIK. Of course the unique LOCONGRESS is an exception, most likely. I havfe seen it, awesome.

The fed Treasury is not connected to that flow of cash, IMHO.

I thank you for the good point about homeless folks. They are a special concern of mine, dear to my heart. See Poverty forum for my many posts there on the hmlss.