The annual stop-the-insane-budget-cuts dance is over. The fight to save jobs and prevent massive layoffs and closures of the New York Public Library has resulted in success.

Here’s the statement (via Gothamist) from NYPL spokesperson Angela Montefinise:

“When it comes to libraries, the real winners this budget season are New Yorkers. Thanks to a sizable restoration from the City, all of our 90 locations across the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island will remain open, which means the people of New York will still have access to the critically important free services we offer that are being used now more than ever–computers and Internet, books, programs, classes, job search resources, and more. This budget also preserves a minimum of five-day service in our system, and allows us to avoid layoffs. We want to thank the people of New York for making their voices heard during a difficult budget season, and letting the City know how important libraries are to all.  We also want to thank Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council for keeping libraries open.”

Although “thank” as applied to Bloomberg here is probably a bit of an overstatement. (“Don’t want to tar and feather anymore” might have been a little closer to the actual sentiment.) According to this report by Michael Kelley in Library Journal, the mayor was “low-balling the budgets” from the beginning. It took council speaker Christine Quinn and the rest of the City Council to call his bluff–not to mention the demonstrations, read-ins, petition signings, and all other forms of citizen protest–to make him look elsewhere for the money.

As I’ve said before, this ritual, which has become as tiresome and perfunctory as it is essential, might be a little less dramatic if the mayor could put forth an honest budget proposal at the very beginning. The time, effort, and resources spent by librarians who have to stop everything to fight the cuts every year could be better spent doing their jobs.

Still, it is heartening that so many people are this passionate about libraries. Let’s hope they’ve saved some passion for the 2013 budget fight. So, until next year…