Librarians are out there making things just a little better one person at a time in the city around you. That is our service. You sleep easier at night knowing that the cops and firefighters are on the job, don’t you feel even a little better knowing librarians are working in your community as well? Nobody is suggesting that we risk our lives in the line of duty, we don’t. We are public servants like they are though and we do interact very directly with the public just as they do. Sometimes we have even more direct and frequent contact with the public than the siren services. In our quiet, anonymous way, we set our shoulder to the wheel of their problems and issues and we leverage all the knowledge and resources we can muster for them. We care, and that is why you should care.

— Christian Zabriskie, “Libraries in New York City: Why We Give a Damn and Why You Should Too” (via thelifeguardlibrarian)

Defendants acknowledge and believe it is unfortunate that, during the course of clearing Zuccotti Park on November 15, 2011, books were damaged so as to render them unusable, and additional books are unaccounted for. Defendants further acknowledge and believe it unfortunate that certain library furnishings and equipment likewise were damaged so as to render them unusable, and other library furnishings and equipment may be unaccounted for. Plaintiffs and Defendants recognize that when a person’s property is removed from the city it is important that the City exercise due care and adhere to established procedures in order to protect legal rights of the property owners.

— 

City Settles Lawsuit Over The Destruction of the Occupy Wall Street Library (via mrmullin)

BIG NEWS.

queenslibrary:

Enamored with 1920s typography. Pictured: One of the 5,000 maps we have in our Archives, covering the years 1639 to the present.

The public library was a vital part of my childhood. Each weekend, it was the temple I attended.

— Author Diana M. Raab shares her memories of libraries, including those of Queens Library at Fresh Meadows (via queenslibrary)

…in the new realities of today’s knowledge economy…it is difficult to achieve economic success or enjoy a decent quality of life without a range of basic literacy, language and technological skills. A distressingly large segment of the city’s population lacks these basic building blocks, but the public library has stepped in, becoming the second chance human capital institution. No other institution, public or private, does a better job of reaching people who have been left behind in today’s economy, have failed to reach their potential in the city’s public school system or who simply need help navigating an increasingly complex world.

— Center for an Urban Future, “Branches of Opportunity” (via queenslibrary)

wnyc:

Despite the growth of e-readers and digital technology, New Yorkers are spending more time in libraries than ever, says a new report out today from the Center for an Urban Future about the changing role of our city’s public libraries in the digital age. This week on WNYC’s New Tech City, host Manoush Zomorodi delves into the topic and finds the contemporary library is about more than just digitizing documents and lending e-books to patrons on their Kindles and iPads. 

New York City’s libraries are open an average of 43 hours a week, about the same as a decade ago and down from a high of 47 hours. “Even the Detroit public library system stays open longer;” the report noted. Columbus’s libraries are open an average of 72 hours a week. Despite the relatively short hours, the study found, New York City’s libraries “have experienced a 40 percent spike in the number of people attending programs and a 59 percent increase in circulation over the past decade.” San Francisco’s government contributed $101 per capita to the city’s libraries, the highest of any city in the study, while New York’s library systems all received between $30 and $40 per capita, below Seattle, Boston, Detroit and others.

— As Use of Libraries Grows, Government Support Has Eroded - NYTimes.com (via infoneer-pulse)

The contemporary library is about more than just digitizing documents and lending e-books to patrons on their Kindles and iPads.

— 

WNYC (via queenslibrary)

Well yes.

I’m not overly emotional about the loss of books (even in the times of budget cuts, books are just small things that can be replaced), but damage to actual library buildings is really upsetting. When people lose their houses, electricity, cellphone and internet service, heat and other things that are necessary for their basic comfort, livelihood and communication, the library can serve as a lifeline. When that lifeline is gone, it can be hard to know where to turn.

— Ingrid Henny Abrams, a children’s librarian who volunteered to help Queens Library at Howard Beach, affected by Sandy, reopen. (via queenslibrary)

queenslibrary:

Happy Election Day!

(Photo from the Archives at Queens Library)

Remember to vote today!

Don’t know where your polling place is? Find out.

Feel like your vote is being suppressed? Report it to Mother Jones or call the FBI’s hotline at 1-800-253-3931.

Just a reminder to New Yorkers: because of the hurricane, you can vote at any polling place in New York state. If you are a resident of New York City or Westchester, Long Island or Rockland County, you can vote anywhere in the state of New York.

Layoffs have been averted. Every library in every community will remain open at least five days a week,” Queens Library President and CEO Thomas W. Galante said in a statement. The more than 600 library jobs which had been in jeopardy were all saved, though the Queens library will continue a hiring freeze and economies in the new materials budget. Galante thanked the mayor, speaker and council members, as well as Local 1321 Queens Library Guild, Friends of the Library, Urban Librarians Unite, and the more than 85,000 people who signed petitions, wrote postcards, and attended rallies to show support for library funding.

— From LJ: “The New York City budget restored nearly $90 million of a threatened $96 million cut to public libraries in an agreement announced June 25. The City Council is expected to vote on the fiscal year 2013 budget agreement sometime this week; the exact timing has not yet been determined.”

newdorplibrary:

Nyan Cat wants all New York Students to look into getting the new Library card! http://summerreading.org/cards.php

Work those memes, libraries.

Libraries are the heart and soul of our democracy.

— New York City Council Member and Chair of the Libraries Committee Jimmy Van Bramer (via queenslibrary)

pith:

How did you get this idea in the first place?

The ubiquity of phone booths is interesting because they are completely obsolete, unevenly distributed in outlying neighborhoods and they carry a strong sense of nostalgia with me. They’ve already evolved from their original function as person-to-person communication technology into their second iteration as pedestrian-scaled billboards. I wanted to see if there is a third option in that, yes, they get our eyes for advertising dollars, but they can also give value back to a neighborhood. I was most interested in turning what is perceived as an urban liability into an opportunity.

And what more can you say about books? They’re the greatest things ever, and everyone should have more.

How New York Pay Phones Became Guerrilla Libraries

Mayor Bloomberg announces new job center at Brooklyn Public Library to assist unemployed →

(Source: thelifeguardlibrarian)