27/04/2023
New York City's helpline (311) directs patrons to my library to file unemployment applications, attend ESOL classes, find free tutoring, assist with passport applications, assist with immigration applications, assist with applications for public benefits, learn how to file a job application, write a resume, file their taxes, send their children to the library for free after school and daycare programs. There is currently a staff of six people operating my branch. This is four people short, soon to be five. No one will replace this staff because my library system must implement a hiring freeze. You see, even though New York City relies on libraries as a catch-all for free social services, our budget, combined with NYC's two other library systems, is less than 1 percent of the total city budget.
What would New Yorkers do without libraries? Where would new immigrants go to learn and orient themselves to their new city and country? Where would teenagers congregate after school? Where would people be able to sit, be protected from the outdoors, and get to exist without the expectation of spending?
What is your library doing with pennies? How are you fighting to sustain and protect it? How is your municipality using its funds? Are they interested in policing, surveilling, and punishing or nurturing their community?
#
