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May 9, 2010

Jersey City Spanish library closing due to budget cuts, moving to main branch

By Melissa Hayes/The Jersey Journal
May 05, 2010, 5:07PM

The Jersey City Free Public Library announced that the Biblioteca Criolla Y Centro Cultural on First Street will close Monday and move to the Main Branch on Jersey Ave. Budget cuts are forcing the closure of another Jersey City library branch.

The Biblioteca Criolla Y Centro Cultural storefront branch at 280 First Street will close Monday and relocate to the fourth floor of the Jersey City Free Public Library's main branch on Jersey Avenue.

Biblioteca Criolla opened in 1972 and is the only branch library in the state dedicated to exclusively Spanish works.

Book returns will be accepted at Biblioteca Criolla’s site on First Street until May 21. The library will open at its new location June 14.

No late fees will be issued during the transition period.

“Recognizing the financial times we are in, and still wanting to provide the most comprehensive Spanish collection and services in Spanish to our loyal patrons, both local and from afar, we believe the new Criolla, now a Unit instead of a Neighborhood Branch, will continue to satisfactorily serve the needs of the Spanish communities,” Assistant Library Director Sonia Araujo, who oversees Criolla, said in a statement today.

The unit will concentrate on providing Spanish services, with a Spanish-spoken children’s story hour.

The library’s Pearsall Avenue branch, which opened in 1981, closed Feb. 28 due to budgetary constraints.

The Main Branch of the library, at 472 Jersey Ave., also instituted reduced hours as of March 1 to cut costs.

Branch-wide, 28 employees were laid off earlier this year.

Posted by tumulty at May 9, 2010 6:50 PM

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