As part of New York City’s recently adjusted budget for public libraries across the five boroughs, some branches may once again be open on Sundays for summer reading or a cool place to work.
Since December, a month after Mayor Eric Adams ordered a $24 million cut that library officials saids left them with little choice other than to reduce operating hours, most of the city’s branches have remained closed on Sundays.
According to New York Public Library spokesperson Lizzie Tribune, at least one branch in every borough will be open seven days a week starting on July 14th, she told Gothamist.
“We heard from New Yorkers, hundreds of thousands writing to the mayor, to our city leaders, saying we can’t have libraries closed on Sundays,” said Tony Marx, the president of the New York Public Library during an event on Monday with Mayor Adams at Inwood Library in Upper Manhattan. Marx thanked the mayor for walking back the cuts, saying, “We know that you love your libraries.”
The anticipated return to seven-day-a-week service was made possible by a newly adopted city budget that reversed $58 million in proposed cuts for the city’s public library system, which consists of more than 200 branches. This expanded budget resulted out of months of organized protest from the City Council and the book lover community in New York City.
As part of a $112 billion budget deal, the mayor reversed some other unpopular cuts, including those to public schools, parks, and cultural institutions. At the press conference for Inwood Library, the city celebrated the grand opening of The Eliza, the neighborhood’s new “100% affordable housing building anchored by community amenities including the new Inwood Library- Joseph and Sheila Rosenblatt Building, a Universal Pre-K, and the Activities, Culture, and Training (ACTS) Center.”
In total, seven library branches are expected to reopen on Sundays starting on the 14th. The New York Public Library will open its Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library in Manhattan, Parkchester Library in the Bronx and Todt Hill-Westerleigh Library on Staten Island. The Flushing and Central locations of the Queens Public Library will open, along with the Kings Highway and Central branches of the Brooklyn Public Library.
