In addition, the text of the open letter Citizens Defending Libraries presented to the Brooklyn Public Library that day, together with an account of how the trustees meeting that day talked about advancing the sale and shrinkage of libraries in the trustee meeting that day, see: April 8, 2014 Open Letter from CDL To Brooklyn Public Library Trustees Delivered At Trustees Meeting.
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Library Defenders to BPL Trustees: No False Scarcity! (Click through to YouTube Channel site for best viewing)
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At a few minute before 6:00 PM, some of the protestors have now gone inside to the 5:30 PM BPL trustees meeting that, starting late, has yet to begin- This is the view from the trustees board meeting room of those protestors still on the street before they disband for the day. Text of the letter delivered and a report on the trustees meeting is available here. |
"Libraries cost very little money and they more than pay for themselves in economic benefit," said Michael D.D. White, cofounder of the library advocacy group.Brooklyn News 12 ran coverage throughout the evening
"If the city spent a fraction of the budget that the public would like to see spent, their problem would be having to buy more libraries rather than selling off and shrinking them."
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The New12 Brooklyn segment ran many times. Here is the clip that ran for most of the afternoon and evening:
News 12 Brooklyn Highlights BPL Trustees Protest (click through to YouTube Channel for best viewing)
Late into the evening the library responded and and their point of view was inserted. However, as you'll note, all of the points the library tried ot make were anticipated and addressed in the letter delivered to the trustees and up on our website.
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. . . because Bloomberg, wanting to sell libraries, intentionally underfunded them |
The divide and conquer strategy is to knock off the libraries one at a time. The BPL strategic plan specifically says the goal is to "leverage"all the BPL real estate. There are sixty libraries in the system. Meanwhile, at the trustees meeting there was a lot of focus was on real estate. |
The Brooklyn Paper: Book lovers to new libary honcho: Hands off the Brooklyn Heights branch
By Matthew Perlman, April 9, 2014
"Libraries are at the core of the democratic process," said Ruth Eiss, a resident of Brooklyn Heights for 40 years. "I'm incensed. I'm furious. It gets my blood boiling."x
The group Citizens Defending Libraries organized the demonstration. Michael White, a founder of the group, hand-delivered a letter to the library system's board of trustees, which was meeting in the library, stating that the Heights redevelopment threatens the foundations of civic society.
"Selling, shrinking libraries, putting their resources out of reach, leads to a vicious cycle of decreased democracy and opportunity," the letter reads.
NY1 covered us, (we are looking to locate the NY1 interview Nidia gave in Spanish)
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NY1 Covers BPL Trustees Protest (click through to YouTube Channel for best viewing)
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All the photos below in a gallery from Library Lovers League and We Will Not Be Silent can be shared collectively from on Facebook |
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