Most NYC Libraries Will Only Open 5 Days Under Budget Cuts: Officials

NEW YORK CITY — The majority of New York City libraries will only be open five days a week if Mayor Eric Adams' $58.3 million in cuts aren't reversed, officials said.

The heads of the city's three library systems gave this dire warning Tuesday during a City Council budget hearing that detailed wider potential rollbacks of services that millions of New Yorkers use.

Most libraries across the city have already seen seven-day service disappear after Adams announced sweeping mid-year budget cuts in November. But the library leaders warned that could go farther.

"It is astounding that we are in a situation where the greatest city in the world is facing the possibility of losing universal six-day public library service," said Queens Public Library President and CEO Dennis M. Walcott, in a statement.

"The potential reduction of $58.3 million in City funding is a devastating blow to our already strained staffing and resources and will force us to deepen the reductions we recently made as a result of the November cuts."

The city's three library systems — New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library — also face cuts to capital funding, which is used for renovations and maintenance.

The combined rollbacks could delay the reopenings of renovated branches across the five boroughs, lead to reduced hours in Brooklyn and force five-day-a-week service for more than half of branches in every borough but Queens, where all but its Central and Flushing libraries will be closed Saturdays, officials said.

Adams, when asked about the cuts during a Tuesday news conference, only said "we're going to get through this."

"That's the most I can say," he said. "We're going to do it with as least pain as possible, but we have to be fiscally responsible."