Fighting to Save NYC Libraries Carolyn McIntyre to do list
Citizens Defending Libraries, May 28
We have several events coming up that we hope you can participate in.
This Saturday, June 1, from 11:00 until 1:00 we are canvassing in front of Tompkins Library and the park, 331 East 10 th Street between Ave A and B, lower East Side of Manhattan. The NYPL has organized a library event and asked Lynn Rosen from Lynn's Kids International to help host the event. Lynn was going to do this thinking she was helping the library until she found out about the NYPL plan to sell off and shrink libraries. Instead, Lynn along with Lynn's Kids International and Citizens Defending Libraries are going to canvass, inform people about the sell offs, and circulate our petition which asks for funding and a halt to library sell offs.Here is a link to sign up for the eventhttp://pol.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=138491
Monday, June 3, 10:00-11:30 AM come testify at City Council Budget Hearings, Committee on Cultural Affairs and Libraries, Council Chambers, City Hall, arrive early! Also contact Head of Committee Jimmy Van Brammer prior to the meeting or if you can't come to let him know about what is happening to your library, (718) 383-9566, creiter@council.nyc.gov. He needs to know about mysterious library closings due to AC problems and other concerns.
Also on Monday, June 3, at 6:00, we are co-hosting a Vigil along with The Committee to Save New York Public Library on the steps of the main 42 Street Library. The Spring Gala is that evening so we will thank the donors and inform them of the NYPL plan to sell off Mid-Manhattan, SIBIL, Brooklyn Heights, and Pacific Libraries and to remove 1.5 million research books from the main library to a ware house in NJ. Join us in canvassing and petitioning this event as well. If you are a spiritual leader, we invite you to come and bless the library or lead a thoughtful meditation or prayer. Here is a link to sign up for this eventhttp://pol.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=138495
On June 8, NYPL, BPL, are hosting a love a library day. we urge you to go to your local branch and canvass. You can print flyers from the CDL Website. Click herehttp://citizensdefendinglibraries.blogspot.com/2013/02/flyers-and-handouts.html
On Saturday June 15, along with Lynn's Kids International we are having a Kids For Libraries Rally in front of the Brooklyn Heights Library, 280 Cadman Plaza, from 11:00 until 1:00. Bring your kids and a book or blanket, invite teens and college students. Well bring balloons and signs to raise awareness about the sell offs for luxury housing.
Does the library system, the public, benefit when the NYPL sells libraries? How much did the sale of Donnell benefit the public who owned it? Read Michael White's latest articlehttp://noticingnewyork.blogspot.com/
The 42st library, the greatest research library in the world, a crown jewel of the city will no longer service the scholars from around the world as it has. The historic seven-story book stacks are about to be demolished and 1.5 million books will be shipped off to remote storage in New Jersey, increasing the time it will take to retrieve them from minutes to days. We owe it to those who built this magnificent library as well as to Andrew Carniege who built the Pacific Library as well as many others, to defend and protect these resources. What is a more obvious theft of democracy than that?
Canvass your building or neighborhood, contact Eric Schtob, eshtob@gmail.com, he can email you petitions and flyers. Does anyone have connections to art galleries? We would like to see an art show of Simon Verity's 80 works of art about the libraries and Mark Hurwitt's cartoons, contact me in response to this email. It is easy to become hopeless about all the services that are being sold off now, supporting each other and doing something about it is the best way to bring back the hope and courage.
Carolyn McIntyre
