I recently met Tony Marx, the president of the New York Public Library (and former President of Amherst College).
As you know, New York City is in the midst of a terrible crisis following Hurricane Sandy. Hundreds of thousands of people are without heat, hot water, electricity, or food.
Guess where many are finding refuge?
I received the following email from Tony Marx just minutes ago:
“I am here at Mid-Manhattan [a major branch library] which like 61 branches is open for second day despite subway problems and no schools. You should see this scene: every chair and inch of floor and rug being used by rich and poor, black and white, young and old New yorkers to read and write and work. Admin staff volunteering to fill in for those who can’t get to work. Amazing. We did have to cancel our Lions gala as we don’t have electricity in the main building but we can donate all the food to folks in Staten Island, where the news is getting more grim, I am told.”
The Lions gala is the library’s biggest annual fund-raiser. How wonderful that the food that was destined for that lavish event will feed people in Staten Island, which was the borough that was hardest hit by the hurricane.
Just a reminder of how valuable our public libraries are.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you for sharing this information.
As the rabid county commissioners in my area consider privatizing our public library system to LSSI, I read this with particular interest. As a public library advocate and Friends of the Library member, I shared it on our email to over 300 Florida members to forward to their friends and families.
Selling-out government services to privatizers is as insidiously damaging to citizens as cancer is to an individual. Privatization is no way to run a country of citizens.
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To all the big money suits out there: Please stop your efforts to privatize our public schools. If you truly care about education, fund libraries. Build them, supply them, renovate them, pay for librarians, make them the center of your charitable efforts. Long after you have left this earth, your good work will bring joy, enlightenment, comfort, insight, strength, and knowledge to generations.
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My friend in LI has been taking refuge at her public library along with so many others just to get Wifi so she can communicate with others. She has no electricity, but thankfully has running water.
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Seattle public libraries have always been my refuge – I can’t imagine not having them. Hopefully the NYPL will have a chance to reschedule their fundraiser? If not, is there a donation link available for them?
(And here is my pitch for one other NYC donation – meal deliveries for the elderly in NYC https://www.citymeals.org/support-us)
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The libraries are my life’s blood. When I was in VISTA (a REAL helping organization–the domestic Peace Corps {unlike TFA}), I practically lived at the Miami-Dade Public Library
every (but not many) non-working hour. Libraries: our national treasures.
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This is exactly what happened in the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina. We were evacuated to Baton Rouge where the public libraries became the main evacuee lifeline. Thousands, including us, lined up to get into them – for internet access, help with FEMA forms, search for missing relatives, or just for a place to rest.
That experience transformed my understanding of the role of public libraries. It even inspired us to start a documentary project (www.free4allfilms.org.) about what they mean to communities across America. To me, it’s a national tragedy that so many public libraries are having their budgets slashed. So glad to hear that NYPL is helping those affected by Sandy.
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Good Morning- I find this so ironic. So many of us have found refuge in the books that our libraries provide. Now the libraries are providing refuge for those stranded by Hurricane Sandy. I have been listening intently to find out if the schools were also being used for shelter. I have not heard a word about that. Havethe Governor and the Mayor made the public schools and charter schools available for shelter??
Marge
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Ah yes, the same location for the movie “The Day After Tomorrow”: The New York Public Library refuge.
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An important story about the power of a private, yet public space of community. Sandy is a terrible tragedy of contrast and paradox.
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