Public Employee Press

Union fighting for additional library funding

DC 37 leaders and activists and New York City library workers were joined May 15 by community leaders and City Council allies to urge Mayor Bill de Blasio and the council to restore $65 million to the library's budget, cuts that were originally made by the Bloomberg administration in the aftermath of the economic crisis of 2008.

After the rally, representatives of the "Invest in Libraries" campaign, a coalition of library advocacy groups that DC 37 has joined, delivered 30,000 letters to City Hall, highlighting the urgency for increased funding, which includes expanding programs for children, seniors and newly-arrived immigrants, book purchases, and the additional hiring of library workers.

The City Council Majority Leader and Chair of the Libraries Committee, Jimmy Van Bramer, said, "Libraries provide access and opportunities to job seekers, to immigrants, to those seeking a better future."

Eileen Muller, president of Brooklyn Library Guild Local 1482, said, "We are the frontline workers who help the people coming into our libraries. We work hard to provide programs and services, but without the $65 million, we will not be able to continue these needed services."

The rising demand for library services has increased as the library budget has been slashed by 20 percent in recent years. Also, in the past decade, staff has been reduced by more than 1,000 workers, at a time when the need for services by city residents has increased. Last year the libraries citywide received more than 37 million visitors.

The overwhelming number of patron visits has fueled an urgent need for more hours, including six-day service for all library branches. Currently, New York City's three public library systems rank at the near bottom in the state in hours open and lag behind many other major American cities in providing services for library patrons.

Highlighting attention to the issue, Luis Feliz, of the community action organization La Fuente, spoke out for the need for more services to the growing immigrant community.

A member of the group read a statement by Bismark Contreras, who wrote of the overcrowded conditions at his neighborhood branch in Corona, Queens, where patrons are turned away because there is no room inside the library. "This overcrowding problem would be solved if the library had the money to expand. But in the short-term, the library could relieve the overcrowding problem if it was open on Saturdays," said Contreras.

At the rally, there was a call for $1.1 billion in capital renovations and maintenance, to shore up crumbling infrastructure and to expand space for improved services.

While speaking to the gathering, referring to the fact that the capital spending request for New York City's three library systems is 1percent of the city's ten-year capital plan, DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido remarked, "What a concept, 1 percent for the 99 percent."

— Mike Lee