BPL's Central Branch facade, covered in Jay-Z lyrics earlier this summer (Photo by Curtis Rowser III)
Most NYC libraries will close on Sundays due to city budget cuts
Eight Brooklyn libraries will shutter on Sundays and cut back services due to the cuts announced by Mayor Adams
The Brooklyn Public Library is ending service on Sundays following deep cuts in the city budget approved by Mayor Eric Adams.
December 17 is the last day that BPL will be open on Sundays at eight of its branches, including the Central Library at Grand Army, officials announced. Other effected branches include Borough Park, Brooklyn Heights, Greenpoint, Kings Highway, Macon, Midwood and New Lots.
In a joint statement with the New York Public Library and Queens Library, which are also cutting back Sunday operations, the libraries said they’re all “reducing spending on library materials, programming, and building maintenance and repairs.”
“Without sufficient funding, we cannot sustain our current levels of service, and any further cuts to the Libraries’ budgets will, unfortunately, result in deeper service impacts,” the statement said. “We know how much New Yorkers rely on the vital resources we provide, and we remain committed to meeting their needs as best as we can.”
Adams on Thursday cut 5 percent of the budget of every city agency, blaming the ballooning costs of the ongoing migrant crisis in the city as well as declining tax revenue and pandemic-era aid from the federal government evaporating.
Councilman Lincoln Restler, who reps a wide swath of Brooklyn, blasted the budget cuts as “draconian.”
It’s also a stark reversal of fortune for the BPL: Earlier this year, the library was successful in getting Adams to not cut its budget by $8 million over the next four years.
A recent grant of $3.5 million for renovations was not affected by this week’s news.
