We didn’t choose the Brooklyn Public Library as last night’s raffle-cash recipient because it’s the sexiest cause around, or the hippest or the most sincere. We chose the BPL because few things are more quintessentially Brooklyn, or more fantastically free, than the public library system. The cash-strapped institution’s facing a $20.6 million funding reduction that could, in a few months’ time, close more than a dozen branches and put hundreds of librarians out of work. This weekend, not for the first time, some of our borough’s most loyal bibliophiles will try to do something about it—with a 24-hour read-a-thon, where, they’re saying, “We Will Not Be Shushed.”
From 5 p.m. Saturday to 5 p.m. Sunday, volunteers and library employees will take to the Central Library and read from a variety of genres in 20-minute increments. The choices make sense: scary stories late at night and children’s books during a Sunday morning storytime. If you don’t want to lose your free books, come and remind the city how priceless they are. To volunteer at “We Will Not Be Shushed,” e-mail savenyclibraries@gmail.com.
Central Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza. 718-230-2100.
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Brokelyn, thanks for being so awesome to BPL.