Gentile Wants “Mini City Halls” In Libraries

Councilman Vincent Gentile, who is the chairman of the sub-committee on libraries, expressed public support for Council President Christine Quinn’s plan to create “mini city halls” in New York’s public libraries, according to a report by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Quinn’s plan calls for all of the city’s libraries to provide information on city agencies to the public. In order to achieve this goal, all of the city’s librarians would have to receive new special training. Gentile gave the mayoral hopeful’s plan a ringing endorsement.

“I was proud to join City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to present a new, innovative proposal for a citywide system of ‘Mini City Halls’ inside our libraries that will serve as a one-stop shop for New Yorkers seeking help navigating access to important programs and services,” Gentile said.

“Libraries play a tremendous role in the communities they serve so turning them into ‘Mini City Halls’ is a no-brainer,” Gentile said, who added that the libraries will help bring city government closer to the people.

To me, it doesn’t sound like a terrible way of attempting to engage the public in the matters of city governance. The new service also might free up some of the red tape nightmares people are forced to navigate through before they enter the various city bureaucracies like the courts or the DMV

But I wonder what librarians think about it, since they’ll likely end up taking up more work if this proposal goes through.