Brooklyn Boro

Brooklyn Public Library’s 20th annual gala draws robust support from community

BPL Board & Staff Plan Expansion of Services to the Public

May 1, 2017 By Andy Katz Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Guests sit in the dining room of the former Williamsburg Bank. Eagle photos by Andy Katz
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In a time when Google, Kindle and Wikipedia threaten to render the venerable public library obsolete, it was heartening to witness Brooklyn Public Library’s drawing power as its 20th Annual Gala unfolded within the Williamsburg Savings Bank’s classically elegant interior. Half-a-dozen City Council members mingled with major league developers, attorneys, philanthropists and business leaders in a cocktail reception before heading upstairs to the main dining room to fete this year’s honorees — Peter Aschkenasy and Anna Deveare Smith.

Despite an ongoing controversy over what critics characterize as the “sale and shrinkage” of library resources, speakers emphasized the increasing availability of existing branches.

“We are now open six days a week,” CEO Linda Johnson told the audience.

Library board trustee and Treasurer Peter Aschkenasy credited the financial leadership of Mayor Bill de Blasio and Borough President Eric Adams with permitting the library to extend its hours and provide greater resources to users. Addressing controversy over the sale of the Brooklyn Heights Library branch for development by the Hudson Companies (whose CEO, David Kramer, sat at a table a few feet away), Aschkenasy pointed out: “The branch was old and poorly designed … The sale would provide a surplus that will fund state of the art facilities in less affluent neighborhoods.”

Aschkenasy went on to defend the board’s process in moving ahead with the sale: “Linda and her staff formed a series of community meetings to get input and understand their [the community’s] concerns,” he said. He also credited trustee Alexandra Bowie with keeping elected officials informed, ultimately winning approval of the deal from the City Council. “Thanks to Stephen Levin [of District 33, which includes Brooklyn Heights] we’re getting a state-of-the-art branch, $40,000,000 and a new branch in DUMBO!” Aschkenasy concluded to thunderous applause.

“Every day I was anxious my books were overdue,” Anna Deveare Smith confessed to New York Times journalist Charles Blow as they sat on stage for a casual discussion in lieu of a speech by Smith.

“The library is a safe place,” Smith went on to say. “All of us in our professional lives have the opportunity to go where things or ideas or community doesn’t work as well and show that safety and those ideas we have … Arts institutions have an incredibly important role to play in bringing people together, bringing them into discourse together.”

Brooklyn Public Library Coordinator of Older Adult Services Taina Evan told of a woman at the Flatbush branch, recently diagnosed with breast cancer, who turned from inchoate anger at everything around to expressing herself through poetry and literature after attending one of the branch’s workshops.

After the presentations were finished, trustee Michael Liburd presided over a silent paddle auction, encouraging patrons to purchase library carts or access to library resources for incarcerated people.

According to library staff, some $830,000 was raised from among the more than 450 library friends and patrons in attendance.

 

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