Dangerous Librarians: The Survival of Branch Libraries in New York’s Fiscal Crisis

Abstract

The recent history of urban public libraries reveals significant changes in the way librarians, city officials, and patrons understood the value of public institutions. Branch libraries in the South Bronx during New York City’s financial crisis of the 1970s reveal both the dramatic and seemingly minute developments through which the city shifted toward neoliberalism. This article draws on archives of the New York Public Library and the papers of Local 1930 (The New York Public Library Guild, AFSCME District Council 37).