Public Libraries Reopen For Browsing Across NYC

New York City NY

10 May, 2021

4:00 PM

Description

NEW YORK CITY — The simple joy of browsing through books at the library is returning to New York City after a pandemic-long closure. Select branches in the city's three public library systems on Monday opened their doors to patrons for browsing books and the web. The reopening wasn't complete — patrons are only able to browse shelves for a set period of time or make appointments — but it represented the first time libraries returned to relative normal since March 2020. "This is another one of these turning point moments to have the libraries back for everyone," Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. Declining coronavirus rates and millions of vaccinations have allowed ever-wider swaths of New York City to reopen. The city's three public libraries — New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library — joined the wave. They had offered in-person book pickups and library card sign-ups, but kept old-fashioned browsing off-limits. Being able to visit libraries changed the life of novelist Min Jin Lee, who joined the mayor's briefing on Monday. Lee said she arrived in America as a shy 7-year-old who couldn't speak English. Her refuge turned out to be Elmhurst Public Library, where she learned to read and write and everything about her new country. "We're really back in New York because the libraries are open and libraries are where those who are new to this country can go, those who have no money can go, but also it goes across our generations," she said. "We go, it's for young people. It's for the elderly. It's for everybody." The libraries that are reopening are: Brooklyn Public Library Brownsville CanarsieCentralClinton HillConey IslandCrown HeightsFlatbushFt. HamiltonGreenpointKings HighwayMidwoodMill BasinRed Hook New York Public Library (covering the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island) BronxAllertonBaychesterBelmontEdenwaldFrancis MartinHigh BridgeJerome ParkKingsbridgeParkchesterVan CortlandtWest FarmsWoodstock Manhattan53rd Street125th StreetBelafonte-115th StreetCountee CullenEpiphanyMorningside HeightsSeward ParkWashington Heights Staten IslandHuguenot Park New DorpRichmondtownSt. George Library CenterStapletonTodt Hill-Westerleigh Queens Public LibraryArverneAstoriaAuburndaleBelleroseCambria HeightsEast ElmhurstElmhurstHillcrestLong Island CityPeninsulaQueensboro HillRichmond HillRidgewoodRochdale Village