Dear Friend,
My life in the US more or less began when I discovered libraries.
I discovered who I was and what I wanted to be in a public library. When I was so poor that I couldn’t have bought a soda, my public library gave me the world — and it did so for free.
Libraries are one of the greatest American institutions — they are not only treasure houses of knowledge, they are also fiercely democratic spaces.
It kills me that New York City — the home of one of the greatest library systems in the world — has been under-funding libraries for over a decade.
This has to stop.
Over the past decade, libraries have had to make do with less. A whole lot less: library budgets were slashed by nearly 20%, opening hours were reduced, and books were not purchased — while the demand for services has skyrocketed.
I cannot stress enough: public libraries absolutely made me. They made me an artist, a thinker, a reader, connected me to the world — libraries transformed me. And they did that all for free.
I want every kid to have that same opportunity. When we starve libraries, we starve the future. It’s that simple.
We have very little time before City leaders finalize the budget. We need to defend our libraries — and everything they stand for — right now. Please, send your letter to Mayor de Blasio and the City Council. Remind them that a library is a key to the future and without that key, so many of us would be in real trouble.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I know that together we can make a powerful difference in the future of our libraries.
Thank you,
Junot Díaz
Author
