Salman Rushdie Joins Writers Protesting New York Library Revamp

From The Guardian:

Major literary names including Salman Rushdie, Art Spiegelman and Mario Vargas Llosa are protesting the planned $300m restructuring of the iconic Fifth Avenue branch of the New York Public Library, saying it is “a misplaced use of funds in a time of great scarcity”.
A letter signed by more than 700 writers, academics and others was sent to the library yesterday, criticising plans to add a collection of books for lending to the reference library currently housed on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. The proposal includes moving the collections from two other branches to Fifth Avenue, adding more computers, more space and potentially a cafe. Up to three million books could also be removed from the library to a storage facility.
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New York Public Library President Anthony Marx said his “absolute priority” was “to preserve the integrity of the library and its collections, as well as the unparalleled quality of the services we offer” in a piece for the Huffington Post.

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Filed under: Libraries, Public Libraries