Cuts to the municipal budget will affect public libraries

In the wake of budget cuts announced by Mayor Eric Adams, the city’s public libraries said 17 of their branches will not be able to keep their doors open on Sundays.

Among them is the central library of Jamaica, Queens. Something that worries Tatiana Iza.

“What is happening in general, yes, a little bad. In other words, because here in the bookstores they give us support, more than anything, it’s going to be support and it’s not going to be like before because they’re going to close and they’re going to cut support and all that,” Iza said.

According to the administration of the Queens, Brooklyn and New York library systems, the initial budget for FY24, announced in June, included the full restoration of library funding of $36.2 million.

However, in the November plan for fiscal year 2024, the city announced a 5% cut to city libraries, totaling $23.6 million.

And that’s not all, the November plan also suggests another 5% cut for FY25. Adding it up, it gives us a total of almost $60 million less than what was thought they would receive.

Alberto Bárcenas, a loyal user of the Queens Central Library, says the city government should reconsider these cuts.

“A reconsideration and thinking not about ourselves but about the future that comes to the children who are the ones that will affect them the most,” said Bárcenas.

Among the Libraries that will close their doors on Sundays starting November 26 are two in Queens, three in The Bronx, four in Manhattan, one in Staten Island and eight in Brooklyn.

Additionally, the city’s library systems said the budget cut will also force them to reduce spending on materials, programming, maintenance and building repairs.

Local politicians expressed their disagreement over the announced cuts at a rally in Lower Manhattan.

“We see that we are going towards an economic recovery and yet we see cuts from this mayor’s office, after cuts, after cuts, when what we need is more services not only within the field of education but also in the field of transportation and especially health ”said State Senator Jessica Ramos.