Public Libraries

I am an enthusiastic user of public libraries. They provide the latest publications, all ranges of books, DVD’s and resource materials, and often free online access. I used the public libraries in Brooklyn as a haven to study for my licensing exams (ongoing, unfortunately). At any one time, we borrowed a dozen or more books from the libraries and our weekends typically included a trip to the library to return materials as well as pick up new ones.

When I travel to my parents’ house in Chicago, I am often struck by how nice their local library is in comparison the ones I am used to in NYC. The building is very new, clean, spacious and quiet, everything the NYC ones are not. The Brooklyn libraries were often very crowded. Only a few of the desks had outlets nearby, so laptop users were angling to secure a spot on those few desks. In addition, the buildings were typically very old and run down, with filthy bathrooms and deteriorating facades. The library in Park Slope did not have a central A/C system, and instead installed large aftermarket products with ducts drawing air to pods sitting within the floors. The result was that there was a loud mechanical din near the units, a few seats were in direct path of the cold air while most of the space remained undercooled.

In Clifton Park as was in Chicago, the libraries feel very new, clean and spacious. My own reasoning for this is that in New York City, the higher density puts a tremendous strain on public resources. All public utilities wear out and are abused at an incredible rate in comparison to their counterparts in leafy and well to do suburbs outside of NYC. The larger tax base apparently does not sufficiently account for the much larger number of users in NYC and consequently the facilities are not able to keep up with the usage. Subways, libraries and other publicly available resources quickly become degraded and barely serviceable, with insufficient funds for proper maintenance and eventually, timely replacement.