Friday, August 17, 2007

Queens Library is best in nation

The Queens Library is the no. 1 library system in the country, with 20.2 million items in circulation in fiscal year 2006, according to a report released by the Public Library Association yesterday. The library saw an increase to 21 million circulated items in fiscal year 2007, which ended on June 30.

Queens Has No. 1-Ranked American Library System

The library sees 55,000 visitors daily across its 63 branches and provides 6.6 million items for loan to its 2.2 million residents. Popular titles are offered in 30 languages. It also offers nearly 22,000 programs on topics ranging from traditional storytelling and literacy classes to programs about public health, yoga, and cultural arts.

Queens Library Tops In U.S.

The Queens Borough Public Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library.

Queens Library Ranked No. 1 In Nationwide Circulation Tally

14 comments:

georgetheatheist said...

Jimmy Breslin once called Queens the "Athens" of America. See.

Anonymous said...

Johnny Loo:
Riddle me this...
Why is one library in your council district operating 6 days a week and will be open on Sundays starting in September:

41-17 Main Street
Flushing, NY 11355
(718) 661-1200

Mon 10-8 Fri 10-6
Tue 1-8 Sat 10-5
Wed 10-8 Sun closed
Thu 10-6

And another library in your district is only open for 5 days a week:

29-42 Union Street
Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 539-2330

Mon 10-8 Fri 10-6
Tue 1-6 Sat closed
Wed 10-6 Sun closed
Thu 1-8

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Jennifer said...

This is great! I totally agree. They have a wonderful program for children, the librians are nice and very knowledgable and their online system is fantastic. You can reserve a book online and then pick it up at your library when it is ready!

Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

It should read; "Biggest after school Babysitting service in the country"

Anonymous said...

So what if their circulation is high. The majority of items that people take out are videos, cd's, and harlequin romance novels. It's a disgrace.

georgetheatheist said...

If this is such a voraciously reading Borough, how come there's no Barnes & Noble on:
1. Steinway Street-Ditmars Boulevard-Broadway
2. Grand Avenue-Metropolitan Avenue- Myrtle Avenue- Fresh Pond Road
4. Jamaica Avenue-Hillside Avenue-Merrick Boulevard
5 Main Street-College Pt. Boulevard-Northern Boulevard
et cetera?

Anonymous said...

That's because the Kissena/Main St. branch
seems to be operating partially as a combination Asian community/youth/senior center hang out.

You can't blame the people though.

Any place you can park your ass for a while
in overcrowded downtown Flushing
and soak up some seasonal heat or air conditioning
is always a welcome prospect.

If you go there to do some serious research
you can rarely find an unoccupied seat.

They actually have a couple of guards
roaming the floors to wake up some people
who have fallen asleep there.

Anonymous said...

What are the full hours of (is it)
the Langston Hughes library in Corona
for example?

I'll bet they're shorter than Flushing's.

The assumption being, perhaps, that Asians are scholars and "Black folk" don't read as much.....
just play hand held computer games....maybe....huh ? !!!

Anonymous said...

There was a move to name
the Flushing branch the "Mary Ann Shaw Branch"

She was a prominent African American woman who actually started the original library on the site.

That would make sense... wouldn't it.....
to have honored her accordingly
and thus set a fine example to others
as to the merits of hard work in overcoming hardships and the ultimate triumph over adversity?

The community's request was "denied" however.....with the explanation that the Queens Library doesn't give names to its branches!

A token portrait of her hangs "in the back"
of the first floor.

Why then was the branch in east Flushing
named the Mc Goldrick Branch .......after the founding priest of St. Andrew's Church ?

The "town fathers" idea inherent
in the creation of the "new Flushing"
meant disenfranchising and excluding
African American residents by denying them
their history.

This represents hypocrisy's "finest" hour.

Flushing is a sham of religious or racial tolerance.

Hasn't it always been run by
privileged and powerful "Whites"......
perhaps, starting with
the Halleran (real estate family) well on through the Flushing Chamber !

Anonymous said...

It is well known
that many Asians are anti-African American bigots.
(They don't like whites much either).

They are also pushing out poorer Blacks from the Bland Housing Project.

And John Liu insults us by offering
free Chinese lessons in the Bland Houses .

How about providing free English lessons
to your Chinese constituents at the
Sheraton East Hotel....... Councilman Liu ?

This is America.....supposedly an inclusive land
where we all learn to speak the prevailing tongue !

Anonymous said...

I like the board: full of developers just like every other cultural organization in Queens.

Hey guys, why don't you fork over something from you pocket back to Queens.

You milk the cow for enough cream.

Anonymous said...

You are not getting bookstore in Queens the same reason you are not getting bookstores in the Bronx or in Essex County NJ.

They don't build bookstores in downscale communities.

Face it Queens, you now have more in common with the Bronx than Brooklyn or Manhatttan. Very very different 50 years ago, wasn't it.

Queens is quickly becoming little more than concrete barracks for immigrants. Not book country (although lots of music with the beat of gunk-jugga gunk-jugga gunk-jugga that seems to underpin a good deal of hispanic music pumped into the airshaft at 1 AM.)

Thank you machine.

Anonymous said...

Pay attention! People who READ and go to LIBRARIES are moving UP the socioeconomic ladder. It was true 50 years ago, it was true 100 years ago, it's true now. Queens Library and the people who use it are keeping the borough on top and that's not Queens Crap.

Anonymous said...

I don't know if going to the library will help a person move up the "socio-economic ladder" or not but I do know that going to the flushing library in particular is certainly like climbing a plain ordinary "ladder," on account of all those damned stairs between floors. By the time I climb up to the 4th floor I'm huffing and puffing. (Yah, there's an elevator, but it takes forever.)