New York Public Library Needs You!

The New York Public Library is facing a severe threat - 2010 budget cuts; which threaten to take $37 million from the library. The New York Public Library relies on both state funds and private donations in order to carry out its mission of advancing knowledge, inspiring life long learning and strengthening communities.

With the prospective cuts to its funding, the New York Public Library is faced with potentially laying off workers, cutting back on library operating hours (possibly operating only four days per week), and the loss of services and programs such as job searching, computer access, literacy training and AskNYPL which answers questions from the general public 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via online chat and over the telephone.

The library (which serves Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island) serves millions of individuals each year both in person and online. These potential cuts will be devastating to many New York communities.

The New York Public Library has a campaign - "Don't Close the Book on Libraries" which is bringing awareness to its plight and provides ways for individuals to advocate for the library in general and also their specific branches. Once you go to the library's website - www.nypl.org, you are given the option to write to the New York City Council and the Mayor on behalf of your local library branch via an online form. I've done this and it's quite simple, you just fill in your name, mailing address, e-mail address and select the name of your local branch. The online form will open up with a letter to your city councilmember and you just hit the submit button. The letter goes to your city councilmember, city council speaker Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg. The library has a goal of obtaining 100,000 of these form letters. You can also write your own independent letter to the Mayor stressing the importance of the library and why a cut in funding will have negative repercussions on the City and its inhabitants.

Those individuals who like to write are also able to submit their stories on how the library has provided supports and services for their needs and why they keep coming back to the library. Excerpts of these stories may appear on the library's blog - My Library and/or the main page of the "Don't Close the Book on Libraries" site.

Another way to help the New York Public Library is to donate. The easiest way is via text message. Text "NYPL" to 27722 and you will send a donation of $10 to support the library and its programs. Standard text messaging rates will apply and the $10 will be charged to your cell phone bill. You can also make a donation through the library's website. Once you click on the donate button, you will be taken to form that allows your donation to go either to the specific branch of your choosing or wherever it's needed most. All donations are tax deductible. There is also the option of donating via telephone or by printing the form and mailing in a check. These donations will help the library reach its goal of raising $150,000. The main page of "Don't Close the Book on Libraries" allows supporters to see how close the library is towards reaching its goals for donations and the letter writing campaign.

So please, take action and don't let the city close the books on the New York Public Library!