BY BEN BRACHFELD
It’s one for the history
books!
The Brooklyn Public Library
opened a new branch for
the fi rst time in nearly 40 years
on Tuesday, when honchos and
local pols cut the ribbon at the
new Adams Street Library in
Dumbo.
The new library is BPL’s
60th branch, and the fi rst new
one in the borough since the
Cortelyou Library opened in
1983. It also marks a momentous
occasion for Dumbo, which has
never had a library of its own
until now.
Situated right on Dumbo’s
waterfront, with impeccable
COURIER L 10 IFE, OCTOBER 15-21, 2021
views of the Manhattan
Bridge, the East River, and
the Lower East Side across the
water, the 6,500 square-foot library
occupies the fi rst fl oor of
an old manufacturing building
at 9 Adams St., with the rest of
the building featuring residential
apartments. It is primarily
though not exclusively a space
for children’s learning and enrichment.
“I couldn’t be happier,”
Linda Johnson, BPL’s CEO,
said. “We really wanted to get
this open for the neighborhood
as soon as we could. There’s a
need here, I think it’ll be fully
used before we even know what
happens.”
Johnson categorized the
view from the new location’s 15-
foot windows as the “best views
in all of the city’s over 200 libraries.”
Library honchos and local pols cut the ribbon at the new Adams Street
Library (left), A look inside the new branch (middle), local electeds hold
books at the library (right). Photo by Ben Brachfeld
Dumbo gets a library