Queens Residents Have No Place to Go

The Queens Library along with the Brooklyn Public Library and the New York Public Library are facing budget cuts by the city.  Faced with hard times, the Queens Library, like the other two library systems, are forced to close branches on weekends and reduce programming, library officials said.  The three library systems are scheduled to receive a total of $280 million in city funding for the next fiscal year, after cuts averaging 11.7 percent.  “If enacted these cuts would close every community library all weekend long with some libraries going below five days per week,” testified Thomas W. Galante, Director of the Queens Library, at the Fiscal 2010 Preliminary Budget Hearing.

Effective July 1^st, the city will reduce fundings to Queens Library by $13.9 million and its operators are preparing for a 24 percent workforce reduction.  This means about 300 positions will be eliminated, and about 240 through layoffs.  Library hours and staff layoffs have become the focus of the struggle between the City Council and Mayor Bloomberg’s admini stration over the city budget.  His proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year cuts down the city’s contribution to the three library systems by about 20 percent.

“Someone pointed out to me the other day that this is the worst idea to cut library service at a time when the economy has suffered its worse collapse in a generation,” states Elisia Greiner while pushing her double stroller down the ramp at the Broadway branch.  Like many Astoria residents with children, her and her children used to browse through the Broadway library nearly every weekend.  But since it’s been under construction for the past year, reading to her children there has become less frequent.  “With all these budget cuts, that library will never be finished,” Greiner said.  And then adds, “If they aren’t open on weekends, there’s really no place for people to go.”  In this economy, people are watching their wallets more than ever so they’re turning to the library for free resources from internet access to comprehensive job search help and career planning.  More than 3,000 students attended prepared classes in English for Speakers of Other Languages last year.

The Queens Library system serves 2.2 million people a year at over 60 locations, plus seven adult learning centers and two family literacy centers.  It has circulated among the highest number of books and other library materials in the country since 1994.  In fact, a record of 22.8 million items in circulation for 2008, the Queens Library has the highest circulation of any public library system in the United States, and one of the highest circulations in the world.  “With more than 450,000 people attending free programs offered by libraries, this is the worst time to cut the library budget because the people are using the libraries more than ever,” testified James Van Bramer, Queens Library’s chief external affairs officer, at the Fiscal 2010 Preliminary Budget Hearing. The circulation in the past six months has been rising and library officials are expecting even more visitors due to the financial crisis.

They receive the majority of its operating expenses from the city, the cuts from the city funds about 80 percent of the library’s budget.  “We’re taking this $13.9 million cut very seriously, unlike in other years,” Van Bramer testified. This library budget cut will just devastate the Queens community.  “It is unthinkable that the greatest city in the world would see public library service brought to its knees but that is exactly what we are facing,” Galante testified.  As the city continues to deal with tough budget decisions, more than ever, libraries are essential services that need to be expanded not cut.

Update: The library is planning two events this month to protest budget cuts.  Borough President Helen Marshall and the Queens Civic Congress will lead a rally May 18 outside the Flushing Library and library supporters will advocate for libraries at City Hall May 28.