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Re-Envisioning New York's Branch Libraries

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Re-Envisioning New York's Branch Libraries CENTER FOR AN URBAN FUTURE SEPTEMBER 2014 RE-ENVISIONING NEW YORK’S BRANCH LIBRARIES 1 INTRODUCTION 1 RE-ENVISIONING NEW YORK’S BRANCH LIBRARIES Written by David Giles, Jeanette Estima and Noelle Francois. Edited by Jonathan Bowles and Karen Loew. Additional research support from Stephanie 12 Chan, Julie Tam and Barbara Wijering. KEY FINDINGS Designed by Ahmad Dowla. Photographs by Center for an Urban Future unless otherwise noted. Cover: New York City’s 207 branch libraries. PART I This report was made possible by generous support from the Charles H. Revson Foundation. BRANCH BREAKDOWN Aging Infrastructure, Overdue Investments 14 CENTER FOR AN URBAN FUTURE Not Meeting Modern Patron Needs 19 120 Wall St., Fl. 20 26 New York, NY 10005 A Fractured Funding System www.nycfuture.org New Visions for Urban Libraries 31 Support for Center for an Urban Future has been provided by the Bernard F. and Alva B. Gimbel Foundation and the Fund for the City of New York. PART II STAFF BLUEPRINT FOR THE FUTURE 34 Jonathan Bowles, Executive Director 36 Ahmad Dowla, Deputy Director Funding and Management David Giles, Research Director Collaboration and Community Engagement 43 Jeanette Estima, Research Associate Adam Forman, Research Associate Design and Development 48 Christian González-Rivera, Research Associate Amy Parker, Communications/Operations Associate David Jason Fischer, Senior Fellow Tom Hilliard, Senior Fellow ENDNOTES 56 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Gifford Miller, Chairman Michael Connor, Vice-Chair Monisha Nariani, Treasurer Blake Foote, Secretary John H. Alschuler Margaret Anadu Jonathan Bowles Gerrard Bushell Jonathan Butler Russell Dubner Lisa Gomez Jalak Jobanputra David Lebenstein Eric S. Lee Max Neukirchen Andrew Reicher John Siegal Stephen Sigmund Thomas Vecchione 2Robert Zimmerman RE-ENVISIONING NEW YORK’S BRANCH LIBRARIES AT A TIME WHEN FAR TOO MANY NEW YORKERS LQZD\VWKDWLPSURYHKRZWKH\VHUYHVSHFLÀFSRSXOD- lack the basic language and technological skills need- tions, such as seniors and teens. ed to access decent-paying jobs, branch libraries More than half of the city’s 207 library buildings have become a critical part of New York City’s human are over 50 years old and a quarter were built at least capital system, the go-to place for upgrading one’s a century ago. With such an aging building stock, it’s skills and a key platform for economic empowerment. not surprising that the city’s libraries are on the verge Libraries also have stepped in as critical resources as of a maintenance crisis. The city’s three library sys- record numbers of freelancers are looking for a place tems have at least $1.1 billion in capital needs, and to do their work, students from pre-k through 12th that’s mainly just to bring the branches into a state grade need to supplement their studies with enrich- of good repair. Bringing them into the 21st century ment programs, and neighborhood residents want would require an even greater investment. a “third place” to meet with neighbors and keep up Cities from Seattle and San Francisco to Chicago with events. As Superstorm Sandy revealed in 2012, and Columbus have recently undertaken multi-year libraries are even an important part of building and FDPSDLJQVWRUHEXLOGRUUHQRYDWHDVLJQLÀFDQWVKDUH maintaining strong social networks necessary for of their libraries. But New York City has made barely community recovery efforts. any headway in addressing its libraries’ infrastructure Yet, despite expanding needs and growing circu- needs. Each year only a tiny fraction of the branches lation and program attendance numbers, New York that need to be renovated—much less replaced—re- LVQ·WFRPLQJFORVHWRIXOÀOOLQJWKHSURPLVHRILWVFRP- ceive any funding to do so, and the few that do re- munity libraries. The average branch library in New ceive support can take years to be repaired because <RUN&LW\LV\HDUVROGDQGDVLJQLÀFDQWVKDUHRI of the city’s time-consuming approvals and contract- the branches suffer from major physical defects such ing process. Only 15 new libraries have been built in as a lack of light and ventilation, water leaks and the past 20 years. over-heating due to malfunctioning cooling systems. Over the past decade, the Bloomberg admin- In addition, the vast majority of branches—including istration’s major capital investments in new parks, “newer” ones built in the past 40 years—are poorly schools and cultural institutions have had a trans- FRQÀJXUHG IRU KRZ 1HZ <RUNHUV DUH XVLQJ OLEUDULHV formative impact on the city. It’s now time to make today, with little space for classes, group work and a similar game-changing investment to repair, mod- individuals working on laptop computers. Meanwhile, ernize and expand the city’s public libraries. This the libraries have just started to scratch the surface ÀUVWRILWVNLQGEOXHSULQWIRUUHHQYLVLRQLQJ1HZ<RUN·V when it comes to taking advantage of new technolo- branch libraries provides a number of achievable op- gies, and they have only begun to design branches tions and ideas for doing so. NEARLY TWO YEARS AGO, THE CENTER FOR AN URBAN for New York. We also spoke with more than 50 New York- Future published Branches of Opportunity, a report based library staff members and experts in a wide variety documenting that New York City’s public libraries have RI ÀHOGV LQFOXGLQJ OLEUDU\ VFLHQFH FRPPXQLW\ GHYHORS- become more vital than ever, and are serving more New PHQWHGXFDWLRQDQGJRYHUQPHQWÀQDQFH,QSDUWQHUVKLS Yorkers in more ways than ever before. In this new report, with the Architectural League of New York, we also held we provide an exhaustive analysis of the libraries’ capital two focus groups composed of 15 prominent designers needs and offer a comprehensive blueprint detailing and architects. more than 20 actionable steps that city government and The set of programmatic demands placed on New the libraries themselves could take to address these York City’s public libraries is immense and growing all the needs. time: In addition to providing books and other learning Among other things, we propose reforms to the cap- materials, libraries are called upon to serve as a place LWDOIXQGLQJDQGFRQWUDFWLQJSURFHVVDQGGHWDLOVSHFLÀF where neighbors can gather and talk, hold meetings DSSURDFKHVIRUUHDOL]LQJHIÀFLHQFLHVDFURVVWKHOLEUDULHV· about community issues and engage in clubs and other physical plants. In addition to outlining strategies for new group activities. They’re an increasingly important infor- branch buildings and renovations, we describe how the PDWLRQUHVRXUFHIRUDQ\RQHORRNLQJWRÀQGRXWDERXWJRY- libraries could better engage communities in the plan- ernment services and requirements. And in an era when ning of new libraries and how the city could tie library English and digital literacy are essential for job seekers, investments to broader community development and and the need to pick up new skills has never been greater, affordable housing goals. With these tools, we believe libraries are the city’s only free and open lifelong learning the de Blasio administration has a golden opportunity to UHVRXUFH$VVXFKWKH\QHHGWRSURYLGHVXIÀFLHQWVSDFH QRWRQO\WUDQVIRUPOLEUDULHVDFURVVWKHÀYHERURXJKVEXW for adult learners and after-school programs. to put them on a more sustainable path for the growing ,Q ÀVFDO \HDU WKH FLW\·V EUDQFK EXLOG- number of residents who depend on them. LQJVJUHHWHGQHDUO\PLOOLRQYLVLWRUVRUDSSUR[LPDWHO\ In the course of our research, we visited 50 libraries 160,000 every day they were open.1 Libraries circulated DFURVV DOO ÀYH ERURXJKV DQG VXUYH\HG RYHU OLEUDUL- 61 million materials citywide and enrolled over 2.4 mil- ans about the conditions in their branches. We ana- lion people in their public programs, including everything lyzed branch-by-branch performance data as well as key from story time for elementary school kids, to English lan- metrics about their size, layouts, amenities and capital JXDJHFODVVHVIRULPPLJUDQWVWRÀOPHGLWLQJZRUNVKRSV needs. We interviewed library administrators and experts for teenagers. And despite dwindling budgets, these per- in more than 25 cities across the nation and around the formance numbers have been growing rapidly over the world, which helped us understand funding and design ODVWGHFDGH%HWZHHQÀVFDO\HDUVDQGFLUFX- strategies that have worked and could serve as models 1. Average Age of 2. Library Branches over New York City Libraries 100 Years Old by Borough 84 23 65 61 17 57 47 4 5 3 SI 4 BX BK M QSI BX BK M Q lation increased by 46 percent and program attendance by 62 percent. New York City’s three At the same time, however, the city’s three library library systems have systems—including the New York Public Library (serving the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island), the Brook- lyn Public Library and the Queens Library—have strug- $1.1 BILLION gled to keep many of their older branches in a state of good repair, much less current in meeting the space and IN CAPITAL NEEDS technology needs of today’s users. The three library sys- tems have prioritized nearly $1.1 billion in capital needs, spread across 178 branches, or 86 percent of their build- ings.2 Of that, approximately $812 million is for state of good repair and interior renovation projects, and $278 million is for site acquisition and new construction. 59 BRANCHES Excluding cost estimates for expansions and replace- across the city ment buildings, 59 different branches across the city each have $5 million or more in needs, including 18 in each have $5 million 0DQKDWWDQLQ%URRNO\QLQWKH%URQ[ÀYHLQ6WDW- or more in capital needs en Island and four in Queens. The average age of these buildings is 81 years old. The most common state of good repair problems in- volve malfunctioning mechanical equipment, leaky roofs, overburdened electrical distribution systems, and a lack 3. of accessibility for the elderly and physically disabled, Capital Needs though many more haven’t been renovated in decades by Library System and suffer from missing or deteriorating ceiling panels, old carpeting and a lack of ventilation and light as well. EXPANSIONS/NEW In all, 64 branches across the city need HVAC repairs or CONSTRUCTION/ACQUISITION replacements, 55 need roof repairs, 55 need to be made STATE OF GOOD REPAIR $'$FRPSOLDQWQHHGERLOHUUHSDLUVRUUHSODFHPHQWV QHHGHOHFWULFDOV\VWHPXSJUDGHVDQGQHHGQHZ $36.31M elevators.
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