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Story changes for Brooklyn libraries ... only five to seven set to close, down from 16

Story changes for libraries - only 5 to 7 set to close
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Tuesday, June 22, 2010, 11:34 PM

Read it and weep, Brooklyn.

A "handful" of neighborhood libraries will likely be shuttered, with hours slashed at remaining borough branches, because of city budget cuts, the Daily News has learned.

Between five and seven Brooklyn library branches are now on the chopping block - down from 16 that Brooklyn Public Library officials warned would be forced to close if the mayor's proposed $77 million cutback were enacted.

At the branches that stay open, six-day service is likely to be scrapped, with local libraries staying open just four or five days a week. Layoffs also are likely.

BPL officials have not yet decided which of the 60 branches to target for closing and hopes to reopen them in Fiscal Year 2012.

"It's not going to be as debilitating to the library system as it would be with the $77 million gone, but it's still not good," said a City Hall source.

The Council is now likely to put back $46.5 million into the final budget, which could come as soon as the end of the week, leaving the city's three library systems to plug a $31 million hole.

Without the deep pockets of private donors to the New York Public Library - which covers Manhattan, Staten Island and Bronx libraries - Brooklyn and Queens libraries would be hit hardest by the budget slashing.

BPL officials said yesterday they haven't finalized plans to deal with the cuts.

"We don't know what we're going to do because we don't know what the budget is going to look like," said spokeswoman Malika Granville.

In Council testimony earlier this month, BPL Executive Director Dionne Mack-Harvin said if the full 24% cut went through, the library would close 16 branches - one in each City Council district - trim hours at the rest and lay off 350 staffers.

"I want to be very clear that closing libraries is not a negotiating ploy or scare tactic," she said, explaining that the alternative to closings would be slashing service to just two or three days.

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