A library is your place to read, study, learn, get inspired, do research, write your novel, and take classes — for free. For those reasons and more, libraries are one of the most crucial resources a community provides.

Nationwide, funding for libraries has been declining over the years. New York City has started to reverse that trend, but this fragile progress depends on City leaders as they write their budget.

That’s where you come in. City leaders don’t want to hear from Library staff about how important the Library is — they need to hear directly from real New Yorkers who rely on their local Library.

Write one sentence to describe what your library means to you. We’ll deliver your stories to New York City leaders to make sure they know how important the library is to you!

Investing in libraries means that words will never fail us.

Andrew New York

You don’t need to have a mother who is a librarian to know how important local library services are, but it helps!

Andrew New York

My library was the only thing that helped me improve my english, allowing me to go from struggling over simple children's books in the beginning to reading Dicken's David Copperfield in a week. It was the only place I could escape to when I didn't know how to communicate in such a foreign land

Flavia Highlawn Branch in Brooklyn

Libraries are a fantastic way to enhance your learning experience no matter what your age

Donna New Dorp

Books I learn about through interviews in podcasts are usually available at Queens library and they continue to feed the curiosity that the interviewees spark ;)

Sylvania Windsor Park

Libraries give me books. Books are a healthy escape of reality.

Ramon Manhattan/New York

Everyone should have books available to them.

Brenda Hudson

The library is not only a source of books, but is a place I feel like I am truly connected to my community.

Jenn Brooklyn Central

Libraries have opened hundreds of doors for me to information, excitement and information for the last 55 years or so, and I see no reason to stop using them now.

Stephen Manhattan, New York City

I don't live in the city anymore. But my husband and I used to study at the main NY Public about 25 years ago. We'd head downtown and spend hours in that great main hall across from each other with stacks of books in silence. I fell in love with that place. I fell in love with him.

Rekha Pittsburgh

My library offers a safe space for me to go and borrow books to learn more about different people, places, and times.

Liz Forest hills queens

The Mulberry Street library is my favorite! Story time is just the best!

Thomas Mulberry Street

As part of its scholarly elegance, the main branch of the NYPL presents a tremendously inspiring conversation series, "An Art Book", with renowned artists, critics, curators, gallerists, historians and writers, celebrating the vital importance and beauty of art books!

Phillip Manhattan
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