I often dream I am in a bookstore or in a library. Then I wake up and I am in Queens, the largest of the five boroughs in New York City, the most diverse place imaginable, and where there are currently two Barnes & Noble and one independent book seller and a few places to buy used books. But given the size and density of this borough, this borough truly lacks bookstores.
Queens Library, on the other hand, has 62 branches scattered throughout the borough. Hours, staffing and budgets were severely cut during the Bloomberg administration and then even further by the cost cutting measures put in place by the now on paid leave CEO Thomas Galante. The entire Queens Library is struggling to recover from the alleged misappropriation of funds and mismanagement of the library in this borough during the many decades that Galante was in charge of its finances.
