Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
AGENCY TESTIMONY
Operational challenges faced by Brooklyn Public Library
0:08:00
ยท
86 sec
Linda E. Johnson outlines the operational challenges faced by Brooklyn Public Library, including staffing issues, rising costs, and the impact of budget constraints on service delivery. She emphasizes the difficulty of maintaining services with pre-pandemic funding levels.
- Acknowledges the efforts of BPL's 1,103 employees during trying times
- Highlights the inability to return to 'business as usual' due to funding constraints
- Details $12.4 million in unmet needs due to inflation, union salary increases, and rising costs of materials
- Mentions the need to cover operations for two new locations with specialized programming
Linda E. Johnson
0:08:00
I'm very proud of BPL's eleven hundred and three employees, including our local fourteen eighty two members who are on the front lines and the work they were able to do during this very trying time.
0:08:14
City Council helped reverse these devastating cuts and reopen our doors, but we did not truly return to business as usual.
0:08:23
In fact, we haven't been able to resume business as usual for years.
0:08:28
We have been operating on pre pandemic funding levels despite a soaring increase in the cost of doing business.
0:08:36
Our patrons still experience long wait times for books and are consistently too thinly staffed, unable to build a strong enough base due to an inadequate funding coupled with the yearly threat of cuts.
0:08:54
Brooklyn Public Library has $12,400,000 in unmet needs, not just due to inflation, but unavoidable costs like union salary increases, health care premiums, and the rising costs of books, especially digital material.
0:09:12
We must also cover operations for two new locations, the Center for Brooklyn History and the Library for Arts and Culture, where staff provide highly in demand and specialized programming resources.