It’s starting to feel real now. In June, libraries in NYC received an additional 43 million dollars in operating funding, something we have been fighting for for 6 years.
- Libraries in all the boroughs will now be open 6 days a week.
- Librarians and support staff are being hired en-mass for the first time in what feels like forever
- Book budgets are coming back!
It’s completely awesome and a little bit overwhelming, but real. Definitely real.
We did it. YOU did it. Thank you to all the letter writers, elected official callers, 24 hour read in readers, postcard collectors, researchers, petition signers and city council testifiers. You were so loud that libraries couldn’t be ignored.
Thank you to the City Council, the Mayor’s office, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer, Special Library Committee Chair Costa Constantinides and Finance Committee Chair Julissa Ferreras. Thank you to all of their staff who drive so much of the work of government.
Thank you to the Revson Foundation and the Center for an Urban Future, for providing the research and data that we all needed to make the case airtight.
Thank you to DC37, the library locals and all of the hardworking library staff who pushed so hard this year. Thank you to the board of Urban Librarians Unite, who worked so hard to slog through the planning and funding for ULU’s efforts this year.
And thank you, (specifically from me) to Christian Zabriskie, who has busted his ass on advocacy for the past 6 years, even when it wasn’t easy or popular, when people asked him why he was bothering, he just never freaking stopped.
We have such an amazing opportunity. Libraries in NYC have always been some of the most amazing in the country, and now we have a chance to kick that up a notch. With additional staff and hours of service, we can be the community opportunity engines we all want to be.
Lets do this.
Lauren Comito
Chair – Urban Librarians Unite