Defending The Libraries At the Brooklyn Book Festival: Don’t Let Eric Klinenberg Neuter The Narrative

Eric Klinenberg headed in to tell librarians how to

Our Library Defense team was out at this year Brooklyn Book Festival collecting many pages of new petition signatures.  It also where we spotted our favorite ringer, author Eric Klinenberg delivering a deceptive message, an address to New York City Librarians telling them how to defend NYC libraries and what is at stake in terms of their survival.

We were outside as people, including Mr. Klinenberg, entered handing out this flyer with critical information and our point of view:

The flyer read:

DEFEND OUR LIBRARIES! . . . YES, THE RIGHT WAY
    Don’t Let Eric Klinenberg Neuter The Narrative

  Eric Klinenberg was solicited to write about libraries (a nice `official’ story?) and the “defense” that libraries need, by the library-sale-promoting Revson Foundation. That’s the same Revson Foundation that has promoted the so-called “re-envisioning” of libraries, which has been accompanying a substantial dismantlement of NYC libraries with elimination and off-siting of books, and a  deprofessionalization of librarians.    

Mr. Klinenberg says that although he spent a year doing extensive research in New York about libraries to write his book he never heard of Citizens Defending Libraries, never heard of The Committee to Save The New York Public Library, or our actions to oppose and defeat the NYPL Central Library Plan, and apparently he never heard about selling libraries to turn them into real estate deals, the elimination of books or the commercialization of the libraries.  Nonetheless, he adopted a host of our major op-ed talking points retreading them as his own, but with key points about defending our NYC libraries oddly and conspicuously omitted.

The difference between Mr. Klinenberg’s narrative and ours?  We talk about:

•    Shrink-and-sink library sale deals like the sale of the Donnell Library and the sale of the second biggest library in Brooklyn, the downtown Heights Business, Career, Education and Federal Depository Library.
•    Sale and elimination of SIBL, NYC’s central science library (This still new library is being turned into a comic book museum).
•    The shrinkage and elimination of books at the 42nd Street Central Reference Library and the Mid-Manhattan library (renamed “SNFL”).
•    The hand off of library space as “underutilized” to the political “Spaceworks” real estate entity.
•    The huge expense to the public of such plunderings.
•    Commercialization of the libraries, including with privatizing “partnerships,” including the NYPL and Brooklyn central libraries, including shorter hours for users that facilitate society weddings–*
•    The pretextual underfunding of libraries to facilitate the above
•    Why pushing the library using public to less preferred digital books the internet for their information is problematic.

(*This week our community protests caused the NYPL to stop its “reputational laundering” grant of 42nd Street public library space to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (“MBS”), responsible for the Yemen War and reputedly also for the dismemberment killing of Jamal Khashoggi.  MBS was going to teach young people about “reputation management.”)

Sign our petition on the web: Citizens Defending Libraries 

Here is more about the Book Festival and press freedom

Look Who’s All On The Same Brooklyn Book Festival Panel This Week Discussing U.S. Press Freedom!: Jim Acosta, Suzanne Nossel, and Joy Reid– All of Whom Have Very Astute Critics As To Whether They Actually Support Press Freedom

Real library defenders were there to great Klinenberg