What’s going on with NYC Libraries? A Fact Sheet (5/19/2026)
NYC PLAN has been organizing since 2024 to increase and sustain the annual funding for the three public library systems, partially as a response to Mayor Adams’ repeated cutting and restoring of funding. Our demand is to fund libraries at 0.5% of the city budget. Mayor Mamdani accepted and campaigned on this 0.5% promise, only to engage in the same cycle of cutting and restoring.
Last week, Mayor Mamdani released his executive budget along with a splashy video announcing that he’s “increasing” funding for libraries. In fact, the current budget proposal basically holds library funding flat, which is better than Mayor Mamdani’s initial proposal of funding cuts, but misses the mark on his promised 0.5% to be allocated to our libraries.
Why does every headline say that the mayor “restored funding” or that he increased funding”? Isn’t that what NYC PLAN wants?
It’s true that he has increased funding compared to his preliminary budget proposal, but what’s being left out is that he reversed his own proposed cuts (not someone else’s!), and he’s still coming in $97 million short of what he promised. Yes, he’s now proposing a small increase over FY ‘26, but adjusted for inflation, Mamdani’s latest funding proposal is worse than Mayor Adams’ FY ‘26 budget.
The numbers:
- The current FY ‘26 library budget (Adams’ budget) is $523 million, which is 0.45% of the overall city budget FY26 $115.9B.
- Mayor Mamdani’s Preliminary Budget for FY ‘27 proposed only $491 million for libraries, or 0.39% of the proposed city budget ($127 billion).
- The latest revision (Executive Budget for FY ‘27) proposed $526 million for libraries, which is just 0.42% of the proposed city budget (revised to $124.7 billion).
- This is still $97 million short of his promise to reach 0.5% ($623.5M) of the city budget.
Moreover, the increase from $523M to $526M doesn’t even keep up with the 3.8% inflation rate – it’s still effectively a cut.
More Data and Context:
NYC Library Funding has been stagnant/declining since 2020, and Mamdani’s budget is a step in the wrong direction.
For scale and context, renovations for the Astoria library branch cost $13.4 million. An increase of $3 million spread among 220 branches across the city is hardly something to celebrate.
In order to keep his promise of 0.5%, Mayor Mamdani needs to allocate an additional $97M to reach $623.5 million. In addition, we demand that the 0.5% of the total city budget be the benchmark for all future library budgets to end the threat of cuts.
NYC PLAN believes that 0.5% of the City budget is a realistic but significant number for public libraries. We believe this would allow libraries, which are an essential service to many New Yorkers, to be more fully staffed and to accommodate patron needs.
To borrow language from our friends at Urban Libraries Unite, “This flat funding proposal relegates library workers in NYC to continued short staffing and overwork, compromising the ability to provide services to our neighbors at the same time need is rising.”