Center for an Urban Future Report and Forum Call for NYC Libraries to Help City Recover

LIBRARY JOURNAL — December 06, 2021 — Center for an Urban Future (CUF) released its most recent report, “Branches to Recovery: Tapping the Power of NYC’s Public Libraries to Rebuild a More Equitable City,” on November 30. The report, funded by the Charles H. Revson Foundation, was accompanied by a forum held at the New York Public Library’s (NYPL) Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library and virtually that invited city library leaders and policy makers to weigh in on how libraries can help ensure an inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and what libraries need to accomplish those goals.

CUF, a New York City–based think tank that examines public policy, has highlighted the needs of New York’s three library systems—Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), NYPL, and Queens Public Library (QPL)—in past studies. In 2013, “Branches of Opportunity” made the case for libraries as critical elements of the city’s human capital system, and 2014’s “Re-Envisioning New York’s Branch Libraries” called for the city to increase its commitment to library infrastructure.

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