QUESTION
What are PEN America and the American Library Association's opinion of the work being done by our library systems?
1:16:17
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3 min
Council Member Carlina Rivera inquires about the opinions of Emily Drabinsky and Jonathan Friedman on the performance of New York City's public libraries and their potential for doing more with better support. Drabinsky shares impactful stories from the Brooklyn Public Library, highlighting the personal connections libraries foster in the community. She suggests that enhanced support and staffing could enable further positive impacts. Friedman stresses the critical role of NYC libraries, not just locally but as national models, especially in the context of opposing censorship and budget cuts. He underscores the libraries' contributions to promoting fundamental American values amidst threats to educational freedom.
Carlina Rivera
1:16:17
You heard the library systems, their testimony,
Emily Drabinsky
1:16:20
what is your opinion of the work being done by our 3 public library systems?
1:16:27
And they do more how are they doing?
1:16:30
Every mother's day, Nicole Brian, the branch manager at the Macon branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, holds them Mathon, where she invites members of the community to come in and celebrate moms.
1:16:43
She works with local vendors and local restaurants, local businesses, brings them in to Pamper the moms.
1:16:48
They're I've attended last year, and there were you could get a massage, you could paint pottery, it was just extraordinary, and it was one program that Nicole holds in her branch on that one day, but she holds programs like that every day.
1:17:01
And every library in New York City is doing something like that.
1:17:06
My kid, I have a teenager, guess what?
1:17:08
He doesn't wanna talk to me, but I managed to rope him in to come with me to my local branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, which is the Windsor Terrace branch, and the youth services librarian helped him figure out how to put his resume together and we left the library and he said to me, I'm glad I came.
1:17:27
And those four words were the first four words of real joy and pleasure I'd heard from him in about a year.
1:17:32
So it was pretty great.
1:17:34
And every day, library workers across the city are producing those kinds of experiences for the public and they are unmatched.
1:17:40
Could those librarians do more more, if they were better supported, if there were more staff that made the branches feel safer, that people felt like they had a chance to take a rest during the day, I think absolutely.
1:17:54
And the loss of Sunday's services and what that is meant for people in my community has is is devastating?
Jonathan Friedman
1:18:01
I have spent months of the past few years speaking about libraries and educational and institutions and New York City's libraries have been vital partners to us in getting our message out and getting our research to to be be made aware of by a much larger public.
1:18:21
And it is astounding that in New York City, This conversation about the state and future of our libraries would seem to hang in the balance at the same time as we are seeing them under siege all around the country.
1:18:35
On the one hand, you know, talking about Sunday hours and Sunday services, and budget cuts feels nothing like prohibition and censorship of the kind that we're seeing.
1:18:44
All over the country, but it really is two sides of the same coin.
1:18:48
It is fundamentally related and is there an opportunity for New York to continue to follow the lead that the libraries have begun to really set a to continue to set this bar high for what a public library does.
1:19:01
What a public library means, how it can stand up for fundamental American values in the face of this just, you know, authoritarian threat that we are seeing.
1:19:12
And the libraries in New York don't just serve New York primarily.
1:19:15
They also, in that sense of being a model, have worked to help support libraries in other parts of the country to stand up to some of these threats.
1:19:24
Books on banned, for example, was was mirrored in Seattle.
1:19:28
Following Brooklyn Public Library's efforts here.
1:19:31
And so there is a real moment right now where our libraries and where New York can continue to stand up and be a model.