SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
EXPLORE +
  • About infoDOCKET
  • Academic Libraries on LJ
  • Research on LJ
  • News on LJ
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Libraries
    • Academic Libraries
    • Government Libraries
    • National Libraries
    • Public Libraries
  • Companies (Publishers/Vendors)
    • EBSCO
    • Elsevier
    • Ex Libris
    • Frontiers
    • Gale
    • PLOS
    • Scholastic
  • New Resources
    • Dashboards
    • Data Files
    • Digital Collections
    • Digital Preservation
    • Interactive Tools
    • Maps
    • Other
    • Podcasts
    • Productivity
  • New Research
    • Conference Presentations
    • Journal Articles
    • Lecture
    • New Issue
    • Reports
  • Topics
    • Archives & Special Collections
    • Associations & Organizations
    • Awards
    • Funding
    • Interviews
    • Jobs
    • Management & Leadership
    • News
    • Patrons & Users
    • Preservation
    • Profiles
    • Publishing
    • Roundup
    • Scholarly Communications
      • Open Access

May 7, 2014 by Gary Price

Roundup: New York Public Ends Plan to Renovate 42nd Street Building (Central Library Plan)

May 7, 2014 by Gary Price

UPDATED on May 8th, 2014 with Addition Material and Formal Statement from NYPL.
From The NY Times:

In a striking about-face, the New York Public Library has abandoned its plan to turn part of its research flagship on 42nd Street into a circulating library and instead will renovate the Mid-Manhattan library on Fifth Avenue, several library trustees said.
[Clip]
This shift is something of a defeat for the library, which had long defended its plan against a roster of prominent scholars and authors who said the introduction of the circulating library in the research building would diminish its capacities as a center for scholarship.
[Clip]
Reaction among board members to the change in course was mixed. “Given all the complexities, I do think this is a reasonable and good solution,” said Robert B. Silvers, the editor of The New York Review of Books, who is a trustee.

From the NY Daily News:

When the facts change the only right thing to do as a public-serving institution is to take a look with fresh eyes and see if there is a way to improve the plans and to stay on budget.

[Anthony] Marx [NYPL President and CEO] said they are now “actively engaged in a discussion with our board and the city on possible alternatives that help us best meet our original goals.”

From The Guardian:

The shift is also a victory – if perhaps an accidental one – for Bill de Blasio, the city’s new mayor, who campaigned against the renovations during last year’s municipal election. In his previous role as New York’s public advocate, de Blasio joined demonstrators on the steps of the NYPL to oppose the Central Library Plan. But he had not spoken out on the library plans since taking office on 1 January.
The library is set to receive $150m in public funds when the mayor announces his first budget on Thursday. The cost of the Central Library Plan had been initially estimated at $300m, but that number had increased significantly in recent months as the library reconsidered the costs of renovation.
I had no idea this was coming, but I never believed it wasn’t possible,” said Caleb Crain, author of the novel Necessary Errors and one of New York’s most consistent critics of the Central Library Plan. In 2012, Crain had advocated for a revised plan that would have retained the central branch as a research library and upgraded the sicklier Mid-Manhattan branch into a major lending institution. The NYPL, at the time, called that idea impossible. It now plans to do almost precisely what Crain proposed.

From Gothamist:

Computer programmer Matthew Zadrozny, whose protest against the NYPL’s renovation plans gained noticed after Humans of New York featured him, told us, “I applaud the NYPL for courageously stepping in the right direction and look forward to inventing the future of the library with them. This is a good day for New York.”

May 8, 2014 UPDATE

  • Full Text of Statement About Library Renovation By Tony Marx (via NYPL)
  • NYPL Shelves Plan to Gut Central Library (The Nation)
  • Critics of the Central Library Plan react to New York Public Library’s change of course (via Moby Lives)

See Also: Central Library Plan Web Site

Selection of Previous Posts About the Central Library Plan

  • Central Library Plan by the Numbers (via NYPL)
  • New York Public Library’s Renovation Plan Awaits Word From NYC’s New Mayor (February 26, 2014)
  • Recent Events Should Be Wake-Up Call for NYC Mayor Regarding New York Public Library’s Central Library Plan (January 18, 2014)
  • Roundup: NYPL Central Library Plan Gains City, State Nod; Stacks Demolition On Hold
  • The Nation Publishes “The Hidden History of New York City’s Central Library Plan”
  • WSJ: New York Public Library Rethinks Design (August 28, 2013)
  • New York Public Library is Firm on Plans for Renovation (August 24, 2013)
  • New York Public Library Will Commission Review of Central Library Plan Renovation Costs (June 27, 2013)
  • Video New York Public Library’s Flagship Building Designs Released (December 19, 2012)
  • Wall St. Journal Architecture Critic Blasts NYPL Renovation Plan (December 4, 2012)
  • The Changing Culture of the New York Public Library (April 4, 2012)

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Libraries, News, Public Libraries, Roundup

SHARE:

lj

About Gary Price

Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Job Zone

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Infodocket Posts

Journal Article: "Libraries Advancing Health Equity: A Literature Review"

The article linked below (full-text) was recently published Reference Services Review. Title Libraries Advancing Health Equity: A Literature Review Authors Amanda J. Wilson National Library of Medicine Catherine Staley National ...

Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board: "As Libraries Turn the Page on Bookmobiles, Something is Lost"

From the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board: Anyone who has spent time on a bookmobile has learned enough to know nothing withstands the change of time. Still, we lament the slow ...

LC's African and Middle Eastern Division Announces Release of the Africana Historic Postcard Collection

From The Library of Congress (via a 4 Corners of the World Blog Post by Anchi Hoh): The African and Middle Eastern Division is delighted to announce the rerelease of the ...

New From IFLA: "Marrakesh Monitoring Report - February 2023 Update"

From the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA): The chart [monitoring report]…is an updated version of previous monitoring reports. Where a country has been updated or added since ...

ROUNDUP: Research4Life Reaches 200,000 Resources; Majority of Research Papers Published by Cambridge University Press Now Open Access; &...

AI Models Spit Out Photos of Real People and Copyrighted Image (via MIT Technology Review) Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Seeks to Hire Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ChatGPT ...

NY Times: "Turning Nairobi’s Public Libraries Into 'Palaces for the People'"

From The NY Times: In 1931, the first library in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, opened its doors — to white patrons only. Nearly a century later, Kenyans dressed in the slinky ...

UC Berkeley School of Law Library Reclassifies Indigenous Materials, Giving Them Their Own Place on the Shelves

From Berkeley Law: As part of its broader commitment to considering and fostering diversity and inclusion within its storied stacks, the Berkeley Law Library staff have taken on one prominent example of ...

Not Real News: An Associated Press Roundup of Untrue Stories Shared Widely on Social Media This Week

From the Associated Press: A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were ...

A Selection of New or Recently Updated Reports From the Congressional Research Service

An Introduction to Trade Secrets Law in the United States Oil and Gas Technology and Geothermal Energy Development Regulating Big Tech: CRS Legal Products for the 118th Congress Rules and ...

Deepfakes are Becoming a Cottage Industry; STM US Annual Conference 2023 to Take Place in DC (April 26-27);...

Columbia: A Judge Just Used ChatGPT to Make a Court Decision (via VICE) Coming Soon: STM US Annual Conference 2023 to Take Place in DC (April 26-27) FCC Announces Over ...

New Journal Article: "Sustainability 3.0 in Libraries: A Challenge for Management"

The article linked below was published today (February 3, 2023). Title Sustainability 3.0 in Libraries: A Challenge for Management Author Alice Keller University Library Basel, University of Basel,  Switzerland Source ...

U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Nobel Foundation to Hold Nobel Prize Summit on Countering Misinformation and Building...

From a National Academies Announcement: The Nobel Prize Summit Truth, Trust and Hope will bring together Nobel Prize laureates and other world-renowned experts and leaders for a global dialogue on how to stop ...

ADVERTISEMENT

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

Tweets by infoDOCKET

ADVERTISEMENT

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • Programs+
  • Design
  • Leadership
  • People
  • COVID-19
  • Advocacy
  • Opinion
  • INFOdocket
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Booklists
  • Prepub Alert
  • Book Pulse
  • Media
  • Readers' Advisory
  • Self-Published Books
  • Review Submissions
  • Review for LJ

Awards

  • Library of the Year
  • Librarian of the Year
  • Movers & Shakers 2022
  • Paralibrarian of the Year
  • Best Small Library
  • Marketer of the Year
  • All Awards Guidelines
  • Community Impact Prize

Resources

  • LJ Index/Star Libraries
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies

Events & PD

  • Online Courses
  • In-Person Events
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Submit Features/News
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Careers at MSI


© 2023 Library Journal. All rights reserved.


© 2022 Library Journal. All rights reserved.