I work with libraries and across the board libraries are having their budgets cut while being asked to be an even greater resource for struggling communities. I would love to see a city, especially NYC, go all in on support rather than cutting already tight budgets. It's such a missed opportunity.
Meanwhile library executives [the heads of the three systems] and library trustees have frankly spent years being so passive about the need for public funding. It's been infuriating to me and other New Yorkers.
It's such a missed opportunity for this administration to have cut the public library budget in the preliminary budget rather than to have come right out of the gate making a significant commitment to libraries and using the library as a way to discuss public goods in the city.
Please will someone good apply for this job? It’s district manager of my local community board, CB7 in Brooklyn. cityjobs.nyc.gov/job/district...
Dear Mayor,
You have shown time and time again how important reading and storytime is for kids of this age. Yes, even on the weekend! Won’t you please increase funding for our libraries to just half a percent so all kids in NYC can have weekend storytime too?
National Library Workers Day sign
Library workers are a special kind of civil servant. Our mandate is to give you and everyone else free access to some of the best things you can have: learning, self-enrichment, community, contemplation, fun, and simple peace and quiet. the best way to appreciate us is to come use us. 🙂 📚
In my case it was just pushing back on the library's "we are committed to the ethical use of AI" by asking how they had made the decision that ethical AI use was possible, which of AI's harms they had considered as part of that decision, and which benefits were considered to outweigh those harms.
SCOOP --> Paramount, Meta, and X are refusing to say what happened to their huge contributions to Trump's presidential library after Sen Elizabeth Warren raised questions about its fund getting dissolved. Ds say tens of millions remain unaccounted for.
Details here:
newrepublic.com/article/2092...
Screenshot from Mastodon, white text on black background: Erik Uden @ErikUden@mastodon.de Once libraries are nonexistent any modern fascist movement wouldn't even have to burn books, but flick one switch and they'd be remotely deleted from your Amazon Kindle or similar digital "library". Capitalists are already building the infrastructure to do this through DRM, so stop believing tech is apolitical - the defunding of libraries and paywalling of information are all part of this.
A reminder during #NationalLibraryWeek, libraries are our best and last defense against the fascist monopoly on knowledge and information
Infographic with text: Since 2017, funding for immigration policing & detention has increased by 171% while funding for libraries has increased only by 22%. Not adjusted for inflation.
Happy National Library Week.
In less than 10 years, U.S. spending on immigration policing & detention increased by 171% while funding for libraries didn't even keep up with inflation.
Some priorities. 🤔
A promotional graphic for QPL's Climate Ready Workshops, featuring a picture of a globe, and a landscape, split in half, one side parched and arid, the other green and healthy.
QPL's Climate Ready Workshops explore #ClimateChange and weather-related events, and how they impact Queens communities.
Learn More & Join Us!
queenslibrary.org/calendar?sea...
Explore our Climate Ready Resources.
queenslibrary.org/about-us/new...
At our event at the library today, I passed out information about the fact that the Mayor's preliminary budget cuts our public library budget. Only 2 people were aware of this. Everyone was appalled. We need to increase public education about this fact. Folks promised to contact their council member
Pretty frustrating that the New York Times is crediting AP with uncovering the existence of Aadam’s archive when I reported on it 15 months prior. chicagoreader.com/music/gossip...
Medical students in Gaza restore one of the oldest libraries after it was bombed by the Israeli occupation.
Woody Guthrie: What This Guitar Might Do examines the legendary singer-songwriter’s artistry, activism, and truth-telling in an exhibition that highlights his years in New York City. The exhibition will be on view from March 31 through May 15, 2026. www.nyu.edu/about/news-p...
ICE = police. Tom Homan, a former police officer from upstate New York, characterized his tenure at ICE as a continuation of his police career: “I’ve arrested aliens. I’ve sat on low houses. I’ve worked on the front lines. I’m a cop in a cop’s job, and cops work for me.”
Boo to Hochul proposing garbage that allows police/ICE collaboration when they have “probable cause” instead of passing actual anti-ICE legislation. Flood her phone lines today, here’s a script: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
The New York Times is now blocking The Wayback Machine from accessing its articles.
That means you'll no longer be able to view archived versions of NYT stories published in 2026 and beyond on archive.org.
(All those posts you see tracking changes to NYT headlines and ledes? They relied on WBM).
Please send a letter to the city council to allocate 0.5% of the city expense budget to our public libraries. This takes 30 seconds.
actionnetwork.org/letters/city...
Black and white poster with bold text reading: "Mayor Mamdani keep your promise! Fund NYC public libraries at 0.5% of the city budget. For more information visit nycplan.org.
I am wondering if @mayor.nyc.gov is aware that today is #NationalLibrarianDay. A good way to uplift librarians in NYC and all library workers is to pay them more. Stick to your campaign promise and this will be a good start.
NEW YORK CITY: May 4th, join archivists, activists, and scholars for an evening of study & strategizing for resisting the new McCarthyism on college campuses. Featuring our own Mariame Kaba. Register here ⬇️
Scoop🚨
Gov. Hochul Moves to Block City Bill Banning 24-hour Home Care Shifts: Sources Say
Despite growing opposition to the bill, home care workers will begin a hunger strike tomorrow if the bill is not brought up to a vote
New for @documentedny.bsky.social
documentedny.com/2026/04/15/g...
