Save NYC Libraries

The UniRead this past Saturday was an incredible, vibrant, and unique event. The weather was gorgeous, the sky was blue, the sun was shining, it was an utterly marvelous day for a library protest. The event hinged on this idea of having multiple readers recite the same text translated into different languages simultaneously. We chose the first chapter of the first Harry Potter as the text as there are so many great translations available and there is a built in audience/fan base both in the library world and in the wider public. The Unisphere is a great backdrop and it could not have been a more Queens event.

Getting the texts was a task in itself and we were fortunate in our contacts there. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone has been translated into over 80 languages. While you would think that the libraries of New York City would offer these up in the blink of an eye we only found about ten languages available on the shelves in circulation. Our good friends the dauntless workers of ILL were able to come up with another half a dozen or so as well. In the midst of the prep we came across a reference to a professor of Russian at the University of Calgary, Nicholas Žekulin who had a complete set. On an outside chance we reached out to him and he leaped to help. He has been an utter delight to work with, furiously scanning languages to match readers for us turning text around overnight. Thank you Professor Žekulin!

On the day we had readers in: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Irish, Italian, Korean, Lithuanian, Russian, Spanish, and Thai. The readers started off together and it was an incredible babel brought to life. It was just a jumble of language, a tumble of tone and inflection. You would hear the words Dursley, or Dumbledore, pop up occasionally but mostly it was just a wonderful welter of linguistics.

This event also marked the first appearance of Bonnie the Bookworm and her nemeses the Budget Birds. Bonnie is a hard working library professional just trying to do her job, help people, and hang out with her boyfriend Carl the Caterpiller (he’s in a band…so hot). Those Budget Birds keep pecking at her, messing with her storytimes, keeping the books away, and generally stressing her out. Bonnie doesn’t want to get a pink slip and neither do you!

This was the first stunt of the season but there are others in the works, big ones, fun ones. We would love to have you come out and join us. Our events are fun, lively, literary activism. We would love to see you there.

Libraries have taken a serious hit in the budget, let’s not forget that. There is a feeling in the air that “the money will be restored”. While we should all hope for the best at all times this is no reason to be complacent. We got cuts restored for the last two years due to a lot of hard work by a lot of people. If we don’t get out there and fight for our slice of the budget pie you can bet that someone else will be trying to take it right off our plate.

Don’t let the Budget Birds peck poor Bonnie. Please join us, get a postcard in, get lots of postcards in, come out, get active.

The third 24 Hour Read In to protest budget cuts will be held on June 9th & 10th from 4PM to 4PM at the Brooklyn Public Library Central Library in Grand Army Plaza. Please join us there.

To volunteer please contact savenyclibraries@gmail.com, or christian.g.zabriskie@gmail.com

Watch the UniRead parade and readings here. Starting at 2pm.

Advocacy season has begun and as we enter the dance we need friends, supporters, and volunteers who will make the big push for libraries in New York City. That’s you! Yes, yes it is you. Maybe you have never done this before, if so, welcome aboard. Maybe you are exhausted by the yearly advocacy cycle. We understand, but we still need you. City hall need to be SHOWN how much New Yorkers love their libraries, and your efforts are what makes that happen. You make the difference, year after year, your work is what does this. Please join with us and help again.

The UniRead
May 12th
2pm-4pm
We’re looking for people who can read the following languages: Czech, Esperanto, Farsi, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Japanese, Portuguese, Turkish, Ukrainian

AND! We’re looking for people who want to be part of the parade! Have you ever wanted to work a giant puppet? Great! Give us a shout, and we’ll make that happen. Do you juggle, like to dress up in Harry Potter gear, or want to watch and wave from the sidelines? Great!

Book Seeding
May 21-23
Mornings and early afternoons

Help us spread the literary love, we’re looking for volunteers who can help us distribute books throughout parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Be the Johnny or Jane Appleseed of books! Old ARCs and Galleys can find new life here too so if you have a stack/shelf/looming pile of them then please get in touch.

Third Annual We Will Not Be Shushed 24 Hour Read In
June 9-10
4pm – 4pm

Once again we’ll be pushing through the darkness, reading out in support of our City’s libraries. You can help! We need volunteers to collect postcard and petition signatures, run the craft and mobile reference table, and hang with authors, hold signs, and generally wave the library banner.

(a call for readers will go out closer to the date of the event)

Contact us at savenyclibraries@gmail.com to volunteer. Thanks!

You love Harry Potter. You love culture. You love libraries. Have we got an event for you!

The UniRead kicks off the advocacy season for libraries this year. On Saturday May 12th at 2PM we will have people reading the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in dozens of languages while ringing the Unisphere in Flushing Meadow Corona Park. It is going to be epic, gorgeous, magical, and we want YOU to be a part of it.

We are looking for volunteers and readers. We have the text in 26 languages and are getting more all the time and we need readers for most of them. We also need volunteers to march, carry signs, be inside big puppets, show off their cultural heritage, and generally make the event alive and wonderful. Bring your granny along in her pretty kimono, or Hanbok, or embroidered apron, or sweatpants for that matter just bring her out. We’ve all done Potter events but this one is going to be huge. It is not just a “hey we love Harry Potter” thing (though God knows we do, we really really do). This is a celebration of culture and diversity and of the library in our city. Where else can you possibly walk around in a circle and hear the same tale told in two dozen tongues?

This is also the start of the advocacy season. It’s going to be an interesting couple of months. Remember, it really is only a couple of months. Once things get going it is going to be over in no time at all. The UniRead will get things going, we will roll out a secret weapon a couple of weeks after that, then close with a big literati Read In at the always wonderfully hospitable Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library.

While we are still waiting on final numbers on the budget let us not fool ourselves, this year’s cuts look every bit as bad as last year and the year before. Pink slips will go out, library hours will be at risk, libraries could close. Yes it does seem like a dance and one that we are tired of but boy would we have egg on our face if we didn’t fight and ALL of the cuts went through? Please join us and kick off the season huge.

Plus it is going to be a really really really fun event. Harry Potter in Vietnamese, Farsi, Urdu, Ukrainian, Irish, and more all out at the Unisphere? It is going to be a once in a lifetime event and a great chance to stand up and be counted for libraries.

We are looking for readers in:
Spanish, German, Arabic, Czech, Esperanto, Farsi, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Irish, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian

Contact:
christian.g.zabriskie@gmail.com

Join us!

For an incredible celebration of cultural diversity, literacy, libraries, and Harry Potter.

Saturday May 12th 2pm – 4pm
@ The Unisphere (you can’t miss it)
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens NY

The UniRead will feature people reading the first chapter of the first Harry Potter book in dozens of languages simultaneously while standing around the Unisphere sculpture in Flushing Meadows/Corona Park Queens. There will be a parade prior to the reading and short speeches after.

The mayor’s proposed budget includes over $96 million in cuts to city libraries. These cuts will directly impact collections, staff, and hours. Should the cuts go through unchanged hours will be slashed, hundreds of jobs lost, and dozens of libraries closed.

While this is an event to advocate for libraries it is also a celebration of the cultural mix that helps make New York City thrive. Queens is widely considered one of the most diverse places in the United States if not the world. Here people of many languages will be united through a shared text. It will be an incredible statement to the universality of literacy, libraries, and the start of a modern cultural epic.

We Need You!

Interested in participating? Awesome! We need all sorts of volunteers to help with this event, from native readers of different languages to people who hang out and listen. If you want to help, contact us at urbanlibrariansunite@gmail.com

Find out more and RSVP on the Facebook event page.