The Nation Publishes “The Hidden History of New York City’s Central Library Plan”

The latest issue of The Nation (on newsstands Saturday) includes an investigative report (3400+ words) by Scott Sherman on the inside story behind NYPL’s controversial Central Library Plan.

The full text of the report is now available online.

It includes material that comes from found 10 years of NYPL trustee minutes. The Nation obtained these documents under the State of New York Open Meeting Law.

Sherman’s article asks the question, “Why did one of the world’s greatest libraries adopt a $300 million transformation without any real public debate?”

Here are a few passages from Sherman’s 3400+ word article:

Ten years of NYPL trustee meeting minutes, obtained by The Nation under the state’s Open Meetings Law, shed light on these questions and reveal the extent to which the CLP, from its inception, was characterized by secrecy and hubris.

[Clip]

In late 2005 and early 2006, the trustees began to ponder expansive questions about the NYPL’s future and approved the creation of an ad hoc committee “tasked with considering the Library’s evolution over the next five to ten years.”

In January 2007, Booz Allen Hamilton was hired to assist the trustees with “the strategy.” [Booz Allen was paid more $2.5 million for their consulting services].

NYPL executives may be keen to serve the public, but they are not so keen to engage it. Many aspects of the CLP remain cloaked in secrecy, and top NYPL staff imparted details of the plan only with great reluctance. The NYPL’s mission statement, which executives are quick to invoke, highlights the word “accountability.” My reporting, which included sixty interviews, left me with a different impression: the NYPL preaches accountability, but it doesn’t always practice it.

What lessons are to be drawn from the CLP? First, transparency is essential when public libraries are planning immense transformations. A striking counterpoint is the Seattle Public Library, which remade its system in the late 1990s in a remarkably transparent way.

[Clip]

Second, librarians must be involved in library policy. The NYPL’s staff was mostly excluded from the conception and execution of the CLP, and excessive power was concentrated in the hands of two men with no library training, both of whom provided continuity between the LeClerc and Marx regimes: Marshall Rose and David Offensend.

Direct to Full Text Article

Note: Yesterday, the Wall St. Journal reported that the NYPL is “rethinking” some of the Central Library Plan design.

See Also: Upheaval at the New York Public Library (via The Nation)
Scott Sherman’s report that broke the news of the Central Library Plan.

Interviews and Discussions from WNYC Radio

• Audio: New York Public Library President on the Library’s Controversial Renovation Plans (July 24, 2013)

• Audio: The NYPL Renovation Controversy (July 16, 2013)
  Scott Sherman is one of the panelists.

• New York Public Library President Anthony Marx (April 10, 2012)

• Audio: Controversy at the New York Public Library (March 12, 2012)

Selection of infoDOCKET Posts About CLP From 2012

• New York Public Library’s Flagship Building Designs Released (December 12, 2012)

• President of NYPL Responds to WSJ Architecture Critic’s Trashing of Plan for 42nd St. Building (December 10, 2012)

• Wall St. Journal Architecture Critic Blasts NYPL Renovation Plan (December 4, 2012)

• New York Public Library Board of Trustees Approves Construction of Additional Book Storage at Landmark 42nd Street Building (September 12, 2012)