Queens, NY – As of Feb. 1, 14 branches of the Queens Library will be closed on the weekends due to cuts in City and State funding.
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Branches that will be affected are Arverne, Baisley Park, Court Square, East Elmhurst, East Flushing, Kew Garden Hills, Lefrak City, North Forest Park, Ozone Park, Queensboro Hill, Ridgewood, South Hollis and Windsor Park. The Central Library in Jamaica will be the only Queens library open on Sundays.
Joanne King, spokeswoman for the library, says the organization has tried to delay the cuts by reducing costs where possible, including taking their Bookmobile off the road, cutting programs, reducing materials and delaying maintenance projects, but a reduction in operating hours was inevitable.
“Our staff has been reduced and fewer staff means fewer hours,” King explained.
Affected branches were chosen for several reasons — they were under construction or would be under construction in the near future and therefore would have been closed for a period of time anyway, are located close to other branches or lack access to public transportation routes.
The Kew Gardens Hills area, with its large Orthodox Jewish community faces a unique problem — Sunday closures take away critical services from area children who attend yeshivas during the week and temple services on Saturdays.
Just around the corner from the Kew Gardens Hills branch, letter carrier Michael Leo was delivering mail to some area homes. He says he doesn’t visit the library very often, but when he does, he enjoys soaking up the relaxing atmosphere while reading a good book at the Flushing branch on Main Street.
“Sometimes you just want to go somewhere — like the way many people still go to Barnes & Noble just to be in a different environment and hang out — whether you want to read magazines or just relax,” he said.
Leo, who often works six days a week and can only get to the library on weekends, was disheartened by the cuts, even though the branch he frequents will not be affected. He believes it is just another resource that is being denied to residents and their children.
“Of all the things to close down, it’s a shame that it has to be libraries,” he said. “That’s definitely not a good thing.”
B”H now there us less time to read all the tinuf
Its too bad but the government is going broke and they have to cut spending everywhere incluidng libraries.
Well, the state shut 4 hospitals in queens, why not shut libraries also!
This happens every four years. Six to twelve months before the mayoral elections, library hours are extended. Two week after inauguration, the hours are cut back to non-campaign levels.
My parents were librarians; my father served as the director of a major suburban library system. One of the accomplishments of which he was most proud was getting libraries to open on Sunday.