Look at the boards and know the community

On a typical Saturday afternoon children are roaming the bookshelves, surfing the web and whispering loudly across beige wooden tables in the Mill Basin library branch. The children’s section information desk assistant rarely sits except to search the database for the appropriate books for a class report.
The library attracts groves of children after 3 pm on weekdays and all day until 5 pm on Saturdays.

Sundays used to be a crowded day but due to budget cuts all Brooklyn libraries are closed that day and librarians expect that next year Saturdays could be cut out altogether.
“We may be forced to cut some classes or their frequency if these cuts continue,” said Sachi Devi Cacarla, a children’s librarian of the Brooklyn Public Library since 2001.
They are also extremely understaffed after instituting a hiring freeze and cannot handle all of the programs they provide daily.
Senior Children’s Librarian Ann bustled around the library at 4 pm, an hour before closing, putting away books and helping young children sign on to learning programs on computers. She said Mondays were her toughest days because she administered back to back programs and only had an hour in between to assist regular patrons find books and do assignments. Being able to speak was almost impossible and she shook her head at the thought of more cuts.
Decreases in funding would hurt the neighborhood in two major ways. The library serves as an after school location for massive numbers of children, as well as a community information source.
Through the glass doors that hold taped service hours, book drop information and a Mill Basin Civic Association emblem, two large bulletin boards, a commemorative plaque, a poster of local assembly Alan Maisel and an easel holding a chart of expected library donations greets residents.
Next to a missing dog poster for Shilo, a grey and black terrier, Brooklyn museum pamphlets and GED class information rest in small slots. Stacks of the Kings Courier and Parents Weekly sit beneath the Community Board.
Across from this board is a Library News Bulletin Board, primarily serving the residents with information about what goes on at the branch.
“We do the best customer service with computer classes and baby programs, which are very popular,” said Cacarla.
The community’s dependency on the library is shown on the cluttered bulletin boards. It provides many programs for children and an accessible source of information for those stopping in while waiting for the bus to Kings Plaza Mall.
“It is mostly neighborhood kids that come in or children that travel to the schools that might come by,” said Cacarla.
Its importance to the neighborhood stems from the ‘70s when Mill Basin Civic Association president Dorothy Russo advocated to have a new library built after it moved around the neighborhood.
It originally opened in 1940 on Avenue T as apart of Austen Pharmacy and moved all over the neighborhood until Russo planned for the construction of a permanent library site at the epicenter of Mill Basin. A framed timeline and photographs of the evolution of the Mill Basin branch hangs in the children’s section. A plaque of appreciation and dedication sits appropriately next to the community board, which she was actively apart of until her death in the late 90s.
People caught up by the boards were mostly those returning their books in the slot next to the entrance. Some would take a quick glance at a board while passing it and even stop to pluck a number strip off of an apartment listing. Some would take a bright pink College Planning Class Schedule for parents of high school juniors and seniors.
Lessening library hours would create a roadblock for residents who stop by on weekends to fill themselves in on what goes on in the community during the week when they are at work. Also being a likely spot for children and a free daycare in a sense, these patrons are likely to feel the brunt of a loss of programs and weekends.
On a sunny day fewer children were present in the library. Still, almost every computer was occupied, parents called to their children in their quiet-stern voices and students sat at desks working on art projects.
“This is a pretty busy branch, especially on Saturdays,” said Cacarla. “Normally it is extremely crowded on a Saturday, this is a really quiet day compared to the rest.”