Less Bad News for NYC Libraries

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There’s more bad news about NYC’s libraries, but it’s less bad than ever, which in the context of libraries is almost like good news.

The budget for the 2012 Fiscal Year is out, which was the impetus for Mayor Bloomberg’s assertion that libraries have been “saved.” Cuts in service, closings of branches, layoffs (although the cut backs are apparently less bad than expected) are still inevitable. And this time, this less-bad news is not being contested like in years past with read-ins and protesting, because unfortunately, people have grown accustomed to the word “budget” being exclusively tied to the word “cut,” and they’re sick of hearing about it.

“To combat the jadedness, organizers tried to come up with new, more aggressive strategies, like the mass ‘hug’ of the NYPL’s Schwarzman Building, and a VYou campaign in which supporters recorded videos explaining their library’s importance to them.”

Sam Riley is the Editorial Assistant at the Rumpus. Also, a humor enthusiast and science supporter. She currently resides in San Francisco, CA. More from this author →