BPL Closures + Layoffs - Help Save It!
Was hoping this could go to a global section of the site, as 350 people got phone calls on Monday regarding laying off our public library employees in 90 days, effective May 31, 2010.
Two weeks ago, the library at GAP held a rally and a book sale that raised $9k.
Please, do something to help these guys!
My branch on Franklin isn't even open for half the day during some days of the week. I can't imagine what will happen with these cuts if they go through.
Write to your local council person. Donate books to your branches so they can sell them and raise more money.
I have a good friend who left the country and grew up in Queens. He returned home this week to discover his local branch had been boarded up and closed. His parents just wondered what all of the senior citizens in their neighborhood were going to do without their library. If you want, I'll gladly do some research on who to write to and will post their real postal addresses here.
The library is an important place and if 25% of their staff is gone, well, it will just be chaos. As more and more people are out of work, they function as daycares, social service centers, job seeking centers, etc.
My librarian friend had 60 patrons for child time today. 60! Where are all of those mommies, daddies, nannies going to go if those programs are eliminated? Anyway, I'll do my best to post addresses for individual politicians to write to in the coming days if people are interested in writing.
Thanks!
MOD NOTE: made Global as requested and added some emphasis above
Two weeks ago, the library at GAP held a rally and a book sale that raised $9k.
Please, do something to help these guys!
My branch on Franklin isn't even open for half the day during some days of the week. I can't imagine what will happen with these cuts if they go through.
Write to your local council person. Donate books to your branches so they can sell them and raise more money.
I have a good friend who left the country and grew up in Queens. He returned home this week to discover his local branch had been boarded up and closed. His parents just wondered what all of the senior citizens in their neighborhood were going to do without their library. If you want, I'll gladly do some research on who to write to and will post their real postal addresses here.
The library is an important place and if 25% of their staff is gone, well, it will just be chaos. As more and more people are out of work, they function as daycares, social service centers, job seeking centers, etc.
My librarian friend had 60 patrons for child time today. 60! Where are all of those mommies, daddies, nannies going to go if those programs are eliminated? Anyway, I'll do my best to post addresses for individual politicians to write to in the coming days if people are interested in writing.
Thanks!
MOD NOTE: made Global as requested and added some emphasis above
Comments
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Perhaps someone could write and post a form letter here for everyone to send to local gov't representatives.
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Better yet, go here:
Keep Your Library OPEN
https://bpl.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/open/
Email Your City Council Member and the Mayor (quick online form below)
What's at Stake
Should the budget cut take effect, here's what would happen:
- Closure of 16 libraries
- Severely limited weekend hours
- Layoffs of hundreds of library staff members
- Cuts resulting in 6 million fewer library materials, 15,000 fewer free programs and 725,000 fewer free public computer sessions
Fill in the form on the right to contact the mayor and your city council member. You can also call 311 to do so.
After you click "Continue," you can send the note we've provided or write your own message expressing your concern, your experience with BPL and what the library means to you.
Thanks for your support! -
done, and forwarded to friends. thanks!
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I had already done this on the BPL site....
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Thank you, MOD! The post looks great.
I read an article recently about how much more effective handwritten letters feel if they are received by politicians. It may be old school, but it works. Again, I"d be happy to post different council members addresses and where they represent. Is anybody game for an old fashioned postcard/letter writing campaign? -
If you post it, they will, urm...
Well, you know.
Go for it. -
The situation with the libraries is worse than feared. There is a real possibility of laying off more than 1/3 of the staff and closing 19 branches. This is a very important issue to me, and I'd like to stay in touch with others who are concerned.
I have already called my City Councilmember, and I'm going to be phoning, writing letters and email. Faxes are one of the best ways to reach elected officials, believe it or not. -
Ok, here we go! Here are all of the council members by district number. I've also included which communities they represent.
District 33 Council Member Stephen Levin
114 Court Street, 2nd Floor
Brooklyn, New York 11201
Represents: Brooklyn Heights, Greenpoint; parts of Williamsburg, Park Slope, Boerum Hill
Phone: 718-875-5200
Fax: 718-643-6620
District 34 Council Member Diana Reyna
217 Havemeyer Street, 2nd FL.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Represents: Williamsburg and Bushwick, Brooklyn; Ridgewood, Queens
Phone: 718-963-3141
Fax: 718-963-4527
District 35 Council Member Letitia James
67 Hanson Place
Ground Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Represents: Clinton Hill, Fort Greene; parts of Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Bedford Stuyvesant
Phone: 718-260-9191
Fax: 718-260-9099
District 36 Council Member Albert Vann
613-619 Throop Ave.
Brooklyn, New York 11216
Represents: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights
Phone: 718-919-0740 or 718-919-0741
Fax: 718-919-0744
District 37 Council Member Erik Martin Dilan
387 Arlington Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11208
Represents: East New York, Bushwick, Cypress Hills, City Line, Ocean Hill-Brownsville, Wyckoff Heights
Phone: 718-642-8664
Fax: 718-642-8639
East New York, Bushwick, Cypress Hills, City Line, Ocean Hill-Brownsville, Wyckoff Heights
District 38 Council Member Sara M. Gonzalez
250 Broadway
Suite 1759
New York, NY 10007
Represents: Bay Ridge Towers, Borough Park, Brooklyn Waterfront, Park Slope, Red Hook, Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace
Phone: 718-439-9012
Fax: 718-439-9042
District 39 Council Member Brad Linder
456 5th Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Represents: Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Columbia Street, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington, Boro Park
Phone: 718-499-1090
Fax: 718-499-1997
District 40 Council Member Mathieu Eugene
123 Linden Boulevard
Brooklyn, New York 11226
Represents: Kensington, Prospect-Lefferts, Ditmas Park; parts of Crown Heights, Flatbush, East Flatbush
Phone: 718-287-8762
Fax: 718-287-8917
District 41 Council Member Darlene Mealy
1757 Union Street, 2nd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11213
Represents: Parts of Bedford Stuyvesant, Ocean Hill-Brownsville, East Flatbush
Phone: 718-953-3097
Fax: 718-953-3276
District 42 Council Member Charles Barron
718 Pennsylvania Ave.
Brooklyn, New York 11207
Represents: Parts of East New York, Brownsville, East Flatbush, Canarsie
Phone: 718-649-9495
Fax: 718-649-3111
District 43 Council Member Vincent J. Gentile
8703 3rd Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11209
Represents: Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Bath Beach
Phone: 718-748-5200
Fax: 718-748-5222
District 44 Council Member David Greenfield
4424 16th Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11204
Represents: Borough Park, Midwood and Bensonhurst
Phone: 718-853-2704 or 718-853-2068
Fax: 718-853-3858
District 45 Council Member Jumaane D. Williams
4517 Ave D
Brooklyn, NY 11203
Represents: Flatbush, East Flatbush, Flatlands, parts of Midwood and Canarsie
Phone: 718-629-2900
Fax: 718-451-2136
District 46 Council Member Lewis A. Fidler
1402 East 64th Street
Brooklyn, New York 11234
Represents: Bergen Beach, Canarsie, Georgetowne, Starrett City, Flatlands, Futurama, Marine Park, Mill Basin, Mill Island, Gerritsen Beach, Madison and Sheepshead Bay
Phone: 718-241-9330
Fax: 718-241-9316
District 47 Council Member Domenic M. Recchia, Jr
445 Neptune Avenue
Community Room 2C
Brooklyn, New York 11224
Represents: :Coney Island, Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Brighton Beach
Phone: 718-373-9673
Fax: 718-373-0195
District 48 Council Member Michael Nelson
1605 Voorhies Avenue
First Floor
Brooklyn, New York 11235
Represents: Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach, Midwood
Phone: 718-368-9176
Fax: 718-368-9160 -
The fire sale they had the other week IMHO wasn't monetized correctly (though their heart was in the right place).
$1 a book "ain't right" --
it's funny after I bought a few "steals" some woman asked me if the library was literally handing out the books and giving them out for free---
I said yes, get a library card and there are a few thousand books inside that you can borrow whenever you want but the books outside are $1.
I'm not sure which she opted for---
Why not use a comprehensive program like B-Logistics?
http://www.blogistics.com/rel/v2_home.php?storenr=339&deptnr=101
http://www.blogistics.com
And perhaps they can use Bidding For Good auction services with the help of local goods and services
http://www.biddingforgood.com/online-auction-services/index.htm
http://www.biddingforgood.com -
The problem is they'd have to pay someone to input and maintain the book inventory anyway. Nice idea, but tough to do when they are strapped for cash. Donated books can't even be put on the shelves b/c they have no one to input them. Most likely, those were the ones you got for a steal or they were weeded from the shelves because nobody checked them out.
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yeah most folks probably think when they donate books that it goes into circulation -- not true. Usually goes to book sales.
If theefforts going into these book sales are volunteers only (I do not know) ----sure it makes sense to do this in-house ---
otherwise I suppose it could be outsourced at a fraction of the cost ---
I assume no database was involved at BPL's end at the $1 book sale---
no database needs to be involved @ BPL's end shipping out (at least I suppose it doesn't)
QPL used to use the service I mentioned -- not sure if they still do.... -
Answer from a librarian: Most donated books are in very poor condition, moldy, water damaged, yellowed, dog-eared, ripped, years out of date, etc... You wouldn't want these books added to the library's shelves. Really, who would want to take out a 1992 Italy travel guide or a 1988 GRE study book? The books that are donated in good condition are looked through by staff to determine whether it is worth adding into the collection. The library already has 250 copies of Tipping Point or various Harry Potters and don't need more on the shelves. Occasionally we will add a book to our shelves, but that does involve staff labor which has a cost. Most donated books in good condition are sold via "Better World Books" and are greatly appreciated since the proceeds go directly back in to the Collections budget.
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Hey there. MLS here (but never quite became a librarian) Thanks for the heads up BWB. Interesting company.
You guys should check out Biddingforgood.com -
I just realized how my words may have been misinterpreted --
It's a common misconception that donated books go into circulation.
(or more said awkwardly: I realize that it's not true that donated books go into circulation.)
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Our club, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, voted to send a strong letter in support of the libraries. I faxed it off to Bloomberg, De Blasio and almost all off the City Council reps today. :chef:
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inpixels wrote: The fire sale they had the other week IMHO wasn't monetized correctly (though their heart was in the right place).
Mos def they have the book sales to get rid of (er, redistribute) the donation books -- I've bought plenty of great non-moldy, non-damaged books there. If you feel you've underpaid, MAKE A DONATION TO THE LIBRARY
$1 a book "ain't right" --
it's funny after I bought a few "steals" some woman asked me if the library was literally handing out the books and giving them out for free---
I said yes, get a library card and there are a few thousand books inside that you can borrow whenever you want but the books outside are $1.
I'm not sure which she opted for---
Why not use a comprehensive program like B-Logistics?
http://www.blogistics.com/rel/v2_home.php?storenr=339&deptnr=101
http://www.blogistics.com
And perhaps they can use Bidding For Good auction services with the help of local goods and services
http://www.biddingforgood.com/online-auction-services/index.htm
http://www.biddingforgood.com
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The BPL is hosting a 24-hour "Read-In" next weekend to protest budget cuts! Go librarians!
http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/events/notshushed.jsp -
It's also be nice if there were some money giving involved with the read-in......
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Whats goin on Mr Ho long time no see!!!
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I was just at Summer Streets and stopped by the BPL table, staffed by a lovely children's librarian from the Bushwick branch, who wore a button that read, "PINK SLIP 8.31.10." Since I'm a former librarian we talked about possible places for her to look, but I had tears in my eyes as I walked away. She's got student loans to pay, it's not easy to transition from one branch of librarianship to another, and I sure wish I could have done more than I did (raising awareness, writing letters, donating $) to save her job and the many others that will be lost in short order. This sucks. And we're not alone: http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/across-the-country-libraries-face-a-budget-crunch/19481582/
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Subject: Marathon reading
Come on out! We need bodies in those chairs. It's fun and the people are terrific.
Going on until tomorrow at 5—the readings are eclectic and enjoyable
http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/events/notshushed.jsp
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