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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Lauren Comito, Executive Director of Urban Librarians Unite
5:11:14
ยท
123 sec
Lauren Comito, Executive Director of Urban Librarians Unite, passionately addresses the NYC City Council about the critical importance of fully funding libraries in the face of federal policy changes and funding threats. She emphasizes how New York City can set an example for the rest of the country by robustly supporting its library system.
- Comito highlights recent federal actions that threaten library funding and freedom of speech, including the Department of Education's statement on book banning and restrictions on military libraries.
- She stresses the opportunity for New York City to demonstrate leadership by fully funding libraries to counteract inflation and increase services.
- Comito argues that well-funded libraries represent a moral high ground and serve as a public good accessible to all, regardless of background.
Lauren Comito
5:11:14
Good afternoon.
5:11:15
My name's Lauren Camido.
5:11:16
I'm a librarian here in New York City and Executive Director of Urban Librarians Unite, an organization that focuses on supporting library workers in cities across The US.
5:11:26
Thank you so much to Rivera and the committee for allowing us to speak today.
5:11:30
I have a whole written testimony but I got a text about fifteen minutes ago that just made me so mad that I rewrote the whole thing.
5:11:38
So we talked a little bit earlier with the library presidents about how federal funding is about less than 1% of the city library budgets and that is true.
5:11:48
But federal policy decisions have the ability to change the culture around libraries' ideas, freedom of speech and freedom of thought.
5:11:56
The Department of Education has issued a statement on its official website saying that book banning is a hoax and isn't real.
5:12:03
Across the globe, Department of Defense libraries are being forced to take down black history and women's history month displays and to remove books like Freckle Face Strawberry from their collection, meaning that active duty service members don't have the same rights that they are allegedly fighting for.
5:12:19
IMLS as of last Friday is being forced to wind down and as of today, the list serve of the American Indian Library Association which was hosted by the Smithsonian Museum is now offline.
5:12:33
They're no longer allowed to be hosted there.
5:12:36
Society as a whole in The US should be better than this but I know that New York City is.
5:12:41
Our libraries are a place where everyone gets together.
5:12:45
This is a library town and we have the opportunity to fully fund libraries to make up for the cuts that come from inflation, to increase funding and have more hours and show the rest of the country what it looks like when we have a real well funded robust public common good that everyone can access regardless of language, race, socioeconomic status or anything else.
5:13:11
We can keep this going here and we should.
5:13:14
It's the moral high ground and I hope we'll take it this year.