http://www.thelmagazine.com/TheMeasure/archives/2008/07/23/why-isnt-the-brooklyn-public-library-open-on-sundays Comments On: Why Isn't the Brooklyn Public Library Open on Sundays? by Mark en-us Copyright 2009 The L Magazine. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The L Magazine readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The L Magazine. wil@desert.net (The L Magazine Webmaster) Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:01 -0500 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:00:00 -0500 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by JJ]]> Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:29:00 -0400 The L Magazine Posted by lia]]> Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:28:00 -0400 The L Magazine Posted by lia]]> Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:27:00 -0400 The L Magazine
Also, as far as Sundays it would be great to have the libraries open not only for kids, but for adults as well (few Queens libraries are open, I see from the list). But I would hope that at least on Sunday, parents and kids could do something together? The thought that kids get sent off to the library while parents do who knows what is just so depressing.
Posted by George]]> Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:26:00 -0400 The L Magazine
While I am all for expanding the definition of the modern library, I'm have trouble with this one...

I don't want to go on a self-indulgent rant, so I won't. But this potential solution, despite its optimism,is ill-conceived.

Oh and the majority of the BPL/NYPL employees who would benefit from overtime pay are probably the same parents who could benefit from free day-care.


Posted by Mar]]> Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:25:00 -0400 The L Magazine
New York Public (serving Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island:

http://www.nypl.org/support/volunteer/

Brooklyn Public Library (serving Brooklyn)

http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/support/volunteer/

Queens Library (serving Queens)

http://www.queenslibrary.org/index.aspx?page_id=114


Posted by nate]]> Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:24:00 -0400 The L Magazine Posted by Abby]]> Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:23:00 -0400 The L Magazine Posted by Mark]]> Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:22:00 -0400 The L Magazine Posted by nate]]> Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:21:00 -0400 The L Magazine
I do agree it's a great resource for children but it's definitely not the librarians' responsibility to watch them.

Full disclosure: I used to work at a library all through high school and loved it.
Posted by Abby]]> Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:20:00 -0400 The L Magazine
While I agree to the premise that the library should be open on the weekends, librarians are not child care workers and should not be treated as "free of charge" babysitters.

There are certain library activities where it might be appropriate to leave a child (say a special activity hour or story time where there are lots of non-librarian adults/volunteers to help). Otherwise, children left alone in a library should be considered abandoned, and child services should be called.

Would you leave your kid at Macy's toy section because the workers there should watch them? I don't think so. Same thing applies to librarians, who are highly trained, and not in babysitting.

If however, you were to suggest adding child care to the library - even if it's free to the parents but subsidized by the government/library budget, that would be a different issue, and a different program all together. But even then you'd be taking money from the budget for books and library programs to support parents' need to run errands child-free.

(My mom is a librarian who deals with this issue often)
Posted by Mari]]> Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:19:00 -0400 The L Magazine