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Video: Why NYC Public Libraries Are More Important Than Ever
By
John Del Signore
Published May 17, 2014
Modified May 18, 2014
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 17, 2014
Modified May 18, 2014
Share
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Those of us with our heads firmly lodged in the swirling surreality of the Internet may be somewhat surprised to hear that public libraries—those shadowy old fortresses where information is still preserved on pieces of paper bound into quaint objects called books—remain vitally important to millions of New Yorkers. In an eye-opening video that shows a day in the life of various NYC public library branches, filmmakers Julie Dressner and Jesse Hicks show just how necessary these public institutions are today.
Elaborating on the genesis of their beautifully-shot short film, Dressner writes:
When we saw a crowd of hundreds waiting for the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library to open at 1 PM on a Sunday, we wondered why the library wasn’t open earlier. We were then surprised to learn that of the city’s 211 libraries, only 8 are open at all on Sundays.This is because, although library usage has increased over the last decade, city funding and hours have been scaled back. When we heard that attendance at the libraries’ free programs had jumped 88 percent in the last decade—to 2.5 million—we wanted to see what all those New Yorkers were doing. In branch after branch, over the course of making the film, we saw how the libraries have evolved into community centers, providing a whole array of services and programs that are stitching together critical holes in the city's safety net.
Here's the video:
Tagged
library
new york public library
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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