18 December 2008

Night of Disquiet

The occupation of the New School's Albert List Academic Center at 65 5th Avenue continues and is being blogged about and reported on by media sources major, minor, and middling. For the students' perspective: New School in Exile website; New School in Exile blog; New School Free Press live blog. Elsewhere: the Gray Lady's City Room; Gothamist; NY1.

My understanding that the New School's Fogelman Library was closing for one month was based on this short note in the Weekly Observer. In truth, Fogelman -- the school's humanities and social sciences library -- has been slated for demolition. As far as I can determine, a new student services building will be constructed on the same site at 65 5th Avenue. Information about this new building and the temporary fate of the library's collections is hard to find. (Either the New School has imposed a veil of silence over their plans, or I'm a lousy librarian. The latter is quite possible...and it's awfully late for serious research.)

Any information or insights into the New School's libraries would be most appreciated. Where are you New School librarians? Tell us your stories, please!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Fogelman Library will indeed be open to patrons on January 20 in Arnhold Hall (55 W. 13th St.) I think what is confusing people is that the current building in which the library is housed is slated for demolition, however the library itself will still be in operation in a new space.
Exact hours can be found at library.newschool.edu

Ed Scarcelle
Interim University Librarian
The New School

Alex said...

Thanks, Ed, for the info. Could you describe the Arnhold Hall space? What percentage of the collection is being moved? Is it temporary or permanent?

Anonymous said...

The Fogelman Library collection will be located on floors 2,3,4 and 9. The reference collection, reading room, and circulation and reference services will be on the first floor.

The collection itself is not fundamentally changing, however much of it will be located offsite. Patrons can request these items via the catalog, similar to most library offsite procedures. If the request is made before 2 p.m., the items will be available for pickup the next day.

The Fogelman Library will be in Arnold Hall until a new building is built on the site of 65 5th Ave.