SAVING NEW YORK CITY’S PUBLIC LIBRARIES

 

AUDREA D. COSME

CIS 166

BIONICA@NETZERO.NET

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

You are a sixth grade student and you just spent a grueling day at school. Your thoroughly neurotic English teacher gave you a ten page research paper on William Shakespeare; his life, his loves, his legacy. (She really loves this stuff)! You’re thinking that you’ll spend your entire life in the library across the street from school. So, you leave school, cross the street, step up to the front doors of the library and try to open it. It’s locked. You check your watch because you frequent the library all the time and you know the library stays open until 6pm Monday through Friday. You try to peer through the window to see if anyone’s inside, but your view is blocked by a notice that states, “All New York City Public Libraries will be closed after 12pm Monday through Saturday and closed all day Sunday due to budget cuts. This policy will remain in effect until further notice.” You are in a state of shock. What are you going to do now?!

 

This is an extreme situation, but it is now a reality. Already, because of major budget cuts in New York City, many of our public libraries are being closed or their operating hours have been pushed back or closed on certain days. Many New York City children rely on our public libraries for homework help, research information, and computer and Internet access or to just have a quiet, safe place to go to after school. New York City public school children face not being able to use a very valuable, free resource in the very near future, especially since many of them do not have computers or the Internet at their schools or in their homes. Can we allow such a catastrophe to happen? What can we do as citizens of New York City to stop the closings of our public libraries?

 

 

TASK:

You will write a persuasive essay telling our mayor the reasons why closing our public libraries will be a terrible mistake. To be able to do that you will use the six-step public policy approach:

 

1.         Define and describe the problems of closing public libraries in New York City (the social issues, key players, and public policy).

2.         Gather evidence for the problem (statistics, case studies, surveys or articles by experts)

3.         Identify the causes for the problem.

4.         Describe and evaluate the existing policy in New York City for this issue.

5.         Develop solutions/policies for the existing policies on the closings of NYC public libraries.

6.         Select the best policy

 

 

PROCESS:

The class will be divided into six groups.

 

Group1:

Investigates the existence of a policy to close NYC public libraries.

Using the website at: www.brooklyn-usa.org/OnlyinBrklyn/onlyinbrklyn311.htm

 

Group2:

Defines and describes the problem of public library closings in New York City. This will include the socio-economic

situations, educational issues, and political aspects.

Using website: www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/select.html and www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/select.html and complete Worksheet1

Using website: www.secure12.cfxhosting.com/citylimitsorg/content/ articles

 

Group3:

Gathers evidence of the problem.  This will include statistical data, case studies and articles from experts.

Using website: www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/gather.html and http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/gather.html 

and complete worksheet2.

Using website: www.secure12.cfxhosting.com/citylimitsorg/content/articles

Using website: www.cincypost.com/2002/jul/23/ohlibrary072302.html

Using website: www.belleville.com/mld/newsdemocrat/4841291.htm

Using website: www.nycenet.edu/students/default.asp

Using website: www.wsws.org/articles/2002/apr2002/nyc-a29.shtml

Using website: www.wsws.org/articles/2002/feb2002/nyc-f27.shtml

Using website: www.gothamgazette.com/commentary/118.pasanen.shtml

 

Group4:

Identifies the causes and existing policies for closing public libraries in New York City.

Using website: www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/identify.html and www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/identify.html and complete worksheet3

Using website: www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/existing.html and www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/existing.html and complete worksheet4.

Using website: www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ ny-bc-ny--nycbudget-cultura0515

Using website: www.wsws.org/articles/2002/apr2002/nyc-a29.shtml

 

 

All Groups:

Develops solutions and the best policies to combat the closing NYC public libraries.

Using website: www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/solutions.html and www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/solutions.html

and complete worksheet5.

Using website: www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/bestsol.html and www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/bestsol.html

and complete worksheet6.

Using website: www.eskimo.com/~jessamyn/librarian

Using website: www.uft.org

Using website: www.enquirer.com/editions/2002/07/20/

Using website: www.ala.org/news

 

 

RESOURCES:

Quality of City Service Is Not Measured

www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/editorials/newsday40902.pdf

 

Fighting mad New Yorkers work to stop ‘doomsday’ budget

www.indybay.org/news/2003/04/1603582.php

 

Looking For Help In All The Wrong Places: NYC's Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year 2004

www.cityproject.org/publications/ reports/LookingHelp.html

 

 

EVALUATION:

You will be judged according to the following rubric.

                                       

Presentation Rubric- evaluating student presentation                                                                    

Excellent

Satisfactory

Minimal Satisfactory

Unsatisfactory

Organization

 

Student presentation is logical, clear and fully captivates audience interest.

Organization

 

Student presentation is logical, clear and somehow captivates audience interest

Organization

 

Student presentation is logical and somehow clear but not captivating.

Organization

                                                 Student presentation is illogical and distorted.

Subject Knowledge

 

Student demonstrates full knowledge of subject matter and beyond

Subject Knowledge

 

 Student demonstrates knowledge of subject matter

Subject Knowledge

                            

Student demonstrates a                                     little knowledge of subject matter subject matter

Subject Knowledge   

                                                   Student does not know subject matter

Accuracy

 

No grammatical errors

 

Accuracy

 

Very few grammatical errors

Accuracy

 

Some grammatical errors

Accuracy

 

Too many grammatical errors that distorts meaning of words

 

 

This web quest focuses on the following Performance Standards:

 

English Language Arts Performance Standards

 

E1c:  Read and comprehend informational materials.

E2a:  Produce a report of information.

E3b:  Participate in-group meetings.

E3c:  Prepare and deliver an individual presentation

 

Social Studies Performance Standards

 

Standard 2

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the in world history from a variety of perspectives.

 

Standard 3

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live - local, national, and global - including the distribution of people and places.

 

 

Conclusion:

Due to the research on New York City fiscal budgets and policies, students will be able to analyze the problems faced by children, parents, teachers and public officials on public library closings. Students will hopefully be able to come up with policies that might assist in resolving this potentially devastating problem that appears to be reaching nationwide.