Just as New York City Public Library’s annual Summer Reading initiative kicks off with a well funded celebration at the Library’s landmark Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue by encouraging kids and teens to read at their local branches throughout the summer to combat “summer slide” while they’re out of school, they are also asking the public for help to fight a $47 million city budget cut.
Tens of thousands of kids rely on the Library every day for essential and irreplaceable services for teens, and adults as well. On City Island alone, over 330 letters have already been written in support of keeping the libraries funded.
The New York Public Library is a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With 90 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars, and has seen record numbers of attendance and circulation in recent years. The New York Public Library serves more than 18 million patrons who come through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at www.nypl.org. To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding.