New York City Librarians
Protest Budget Cuts
“Stop the Attack on Public Libraries” was the rallying cry February 25–27 when union leaders representing New York City librarians distributed more than 5,000 informational leaflets outside branches in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn urging the public to join them in protesting another anticipated round of budget cuts.
Since July 1, library budgets have been reduced by 14.5%, resulting in a decrease in weekend hours, the elimination of 200 employees, and cutbacks in acquisitions purchases by about 3,000 books per branch. Lynn Taylor, vice president of the NYPL Guild Local 1930, told American Libraries that 75% of all libraries have already lost one day of service.
Union leaders contend that libraries are under the heaviest attack since the city fiscal crisis in the 1970s, when library service was cut to three or four days per week. According to Taylor, the FY 2004 budget cuts proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg would result in an additional loss in service and materials. Taylor, a librarian at the New Amsterdam branch in lower Manhattan, said her materials budget has already been trimmed by 50%.
“As librarians, we fear that this a move toward deprofessionalization, a move to run some branches without librarians with staff paid at a lower rate,” she added. “I really feel bad for people who are not part of a union.”
Posted March 3, 2003.
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