Category: Uncategorized

After eight years of delays, the replacement for Donnell Library will open next Monday at 10am. If you are free that day, please join us as we remind NYPL officials that the opening of the new (significantly smaller) library is no cause for celebration. Beloved for its children’s literature and foreign language collection, the Donnell… Continue reading Readers, NOT Real Estate: No More Donnell Deals!

NYPL is not the only New York library emptying its stacks.  New York Univiersity’s Bobst Library is removing the stacks from the entire seventh floor to make way for more study space and a remodeled media center.

NYPL has announced the completion of the underground storage facility built when Vartan Gregorian led the Library in the 1980s. CSNYPL has long advocated the use of this space. But even as they fill it with books, questions remain. On-site books, once routinely delivered in fifteen minutes, now take forty-five. And, while boasting of the capacity… Continue reading NYPL Finally Delivers Some Books… But Wait!

We are pleased to announce that the Committee to Save the New York Public Library is one of the recipients of this year’s Grassroots Preservation Awards! Please join us as we celebrate this great honor at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery on Tuesday, May 24, 2016, 6:00 pm. Given annually by the Historic Districts Council, the city’s leading advocacy… Continue reading Committee to Save NYPL Wins Grassroots Preservation Award! Join us to celebrate!

It turns out the Koch brothers think libraries (or at least government-funded public libraries) are a bad idea. As usual they are throwing their money around, this time dropping the big bucks in a small Illinois town to defeat a bond issue to support the local library – read the full article here. No, this isn’t a parody.… Continue reading The Koch Brothers Really Don’t Like Libraries

On December 10, 2015, NYPL held a public meeting to introduce the architects of the upcoming Mid-Manhattan and 42nd Street Library renovations. Francine Houben, founder of Mecanoo, and Liz Leber, partner of Beyer Blinder Belle, gave a brief presentation about their backgrounds and their previous library projects. NYPL Chief Operating Officer Iris Weinshall presented an overview… Continue reading More Information About the Mid-Manhattan and 42nd St. Renovation Plans

The Rose Main Reading Room at the 42nd Street Library has been closed for repairs since May 2014, when a small piece of plaster fell off the ceiling. Last December, NYPL offered a tour of the scaffolding in the Rose Main Reading Room to interested members of the public. It’s an impressive structure, which holds… Continue reading Rose Main Reading Room Scaffolding Tour

The Times Literary Supplement (London) has published Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Michael Dirda’s review of Scott Sherman’s Patience and Fortitude. It’s an excellent read! Scott Sherman’s subtitle is slightly coy: his book isn’t about the fight to save just any old library. He’s talking about the revered New York Public Library, one of the world’s great scholarly archives and research institutions. Located at 42nd… Continue reading Times Literary Supplement Reviews Patience and Fortitude

New plans at NYPL leave millions of books in remote storage while using centrally located research library space for digital services that could be anywhere. As this article shows, this is as short-sighted as their premature and disastrous embrace of CD-ROM technology at the Science Industry and Business Library. New technology and print can complement… Continue reading A Good Book is the Precious Life-blood of a Master Spirit

NYPL plans to open upscale cafes at two of its research libraries. The rationale? “It is important that we offer the public what they want and need while they’re in our buildings, often for hours while doing important research,” says NYPL Chief External Relations Officer Carrie Welch. Ms. Welch seems to have missed the fact that what the… Continue reading Stacks, Not Snacks!