Midtown Lunch: Bites of NYPL's Future and Past

Seems there's no news but NYPL news these doggone summer days. I've no doubt other libraries will pick up the slack come September, but for now:

Ann Thornton has been named interim Director of the New York Public Libraries, after previous Director David Ferriero was chosen, hand-of-Obama-style, as the latest Archivist of the United States.

Following last month's revelation that work on a new Donnell Library won't begin until 2011 (if ever), the NY Times Real Estate section recently featured an architectural examination of the shuttered, beloved NYPL branch. It seems a small group of preservationists have been lobbying the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Donnell's behalf. Not everyone is convinced.

The new Donnell had a facade of Spartan simplicity, about as warm as a jail cell. ... Writing in his column in The New Yorker in 1956, Lewis Mumford likened it to the careful, ordered facade of a high Renaissance palazzo, but one “cleansed of ornament.” For Mumford that was not necessarily a negative, but he found the “cheerless” Donnell a design of “assiduous anonymity.” The library, he wrote, “has very little to say, and is content with not saying it.”

Later, the reporter likens Donnell to boiled spinach, then quips, "however, that has never been a disqualifier for landmark status."

Donnell Library in Suspended Animation

New York Public Library's stalled-out deal with Orient-Express Hotels has been reaffirmed, according to City Room. Donnell Library was dealt in 2007, but the hotel chain suspended its payments earlier this year, citing financial difficulties. The sale will now close in June 2011. That's right: four years after the original agreement and three years hence the library's shuttering. Great planning!

A Grand Central Opening

NYPL's new Grand Central Branch opens for business on Monday, April 27. The library was conceived as a temporary stopgap during construction of the new Donnell Library. With Donnell's future on hold, perhaps Grand Central is here to stay?

Questions of permanence aside, the new branch will celebrate its opening on Wednesday, April 29 at 4:30 pm. Everyone's invited! Here she is, shelves stocked, neat and tidy before the incoming tide:


UPDATE: Today's City Room includes a report about patrons in uproar over Donnell's uncertain fate, some of whom plan to picket the opening of the Grand Central Branch. The article also notes that City Council members Christine Quinn and Vincent Gentile have "vowed" to do something about the situation...the lack-of-library situation, that is, not the threat-of-protest situation.

Landmarking Bronx Libraries

On Tuesday, two Carnegie libraries in the Bronx — the Woodstock and Hunts Point branches — were granted landmark status by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission. NYPL's Morrisania and Mott Haven branches earned the same distinction in 1998 and 1969, respectively.

NYPL Construction Plans Come Tumbling Down?

The NY Times reports something many of us had already suspected: Orient-Express Hotels can't pony up the cash they promised to New York Public in the Donnell Library deal. To recap the situation, NYPL sold Donnell for $59 million, intending to use the proceeds to fund the Norman Foster renovation of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library. Orient-Express planned to build an 11-story hotel which would have included a new, much smaller library. Donnell's collections have been distributed to various libraries throughout the system, with some materials destined for the temporary Grand Central Branch, slated to open this spring...supposedly.

Photo by Driven By Boredom. More Donnell Library destructoporn and swan song commentary available here.

New School Library's Best Laid Plans?

On January 20th, the New School reopened its Fogelman Library in a new space in Arnhold Hall. I asked readers for their impressions, but received nary a one. The New School Free Press is likewise silent. The following commentary is from a New School graduate student who makes heavy use of the library. (Yes, I know the writer; this kind of substantive feedback doesn't fall unbidden from the heavens. Anyone who has undertaken an assessment project knows it's all pleading and teeth-pulling.)

I don't think anyone was kidding themselves in their hopes for the new library space. Put simply, it's completely inadequate. 75% of the collection is off-site which is, for someone like myself who laments the disappearance of monographs from our shelves, very inconvenient and discouraging for browsers and those who like to jump from bibliographies to look up citations, etc. The bulk of the collection is located down a winding hallway in a closet-like space of seven bays of compact shelving. The rest of the collection is scattered across different floors, with the P's--for example--finding their home on the walls of a computer lab, which has an ocean of computers where people convene to avidly update their facebook pages. There is no inside or outside to the library. The building is used heavily for classroom space by one of the music schools in the university. The building also has a large space that is often used for conferences and events open to the public. This makes it difficult for users to know where they can use library materials, e.g. periodicals or reference books. It also seems like it would be difficult for the library staff to account for the different materials. The circulation desk is on the first floor of the building, near the entrance/exit. If one were to ask 'Where is the library?' upon entering, she would be directed to the circulation desk.

The reading space is the main problem. The new 'quiet' reading room is about the size of a classroom. It has four tables: two small tables that fit 1 (comfortably) and two large tables that fit 2 (comfortably). I've only ever seen 4 people in that room at a time, but I think there are 16 chairs. There is simply no way that 16 people could study in there without bumping elbows every second. It is a very nice room with a nice window and nice wood floors, the problem is that there is only one of them. And the heat hasn't been working in that part of the building, so there is a space heater that makes the air stuffy while the room stays cold. The other reading room serves the reference room, where people go if they have a reference question. It is located on the first floor. This is where the reference collection lives, on stylized geometric (space-wasting) shelving with a decor that looks like an Ikea sushi-bar that doesn't seem to make use of the space as best it could. Again, the room itself is OK, it's just that it can be noisy, it’s small, and sits only about 25-30 (absolute maximum). So there are roughly about 25 bays of books and about 45 seats (in quiet areas) in the library; this might be suitable if it just served one of the smaller departments in one of the 8 divisions/colleges of the university. There are more tables and chairs in public spaces, but one has to listen to crowds walking by as well as the goings-on of the security guards at the front desk. That’s fine when eating a sandwich or having coffee, but it's just not conducive to studying. There are, however, many, many computers and computing classrooms. There is also, what looks like, new cafe space with numerous seats. So if you want to get a scone and check your email, then the new library is a good spot.

It is very possible that I have not yet discovered more of library space in this building. Though, I have tried to seek out all that is available. If there is more, please let me know because I would very much like to use the resources and study there. I know many other students who would love to as well. As it is, I have already clocked many hours there. Since not many people know where the new spaces are there haven't been big crowds, which I have to admit is kind of nice temporarily. The librarians and the library staff have all greeted me with a smile and have been very helpful during this confusing transition, making sure that students know where the resources are located and answering any questions. I would very much like to thank the librarians for their help while working under adverse conditions. But the library itself, both the collection and the space, is just amazingly inadequate for the larger university and for the many dedicated, hardworking students that I know.

Again, I'd love to hear reactions from the denizens of Fogelman Library. Does the above description jive with your experience?

"On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp"

Today marked the beginning of a new era, an age in which we will set aside childish things and extend our hands in peace and ... start the spring term. Yes, for many colleges and universities in the city, Inauguration Day was also the first day of the new semester, our quiet libraries filling once again with the Sturm und Drang of scholarly pursuit. Ah, academia!

At the New School, Fogelman Social Sciences and Humanities Library reopened in its new space in Arnhold Hall. You may recall that last month's student occupation of the New School's Graduate Faculty building was partially motivated by a lack of study space. In my post of Dec. 20, I questioned whether Fogelman's temporary home would adequately fulfill students' needs. Well, New School students, librarians, (un)wary interlopers, what's your impression?

New York Libraries Get Landmark Status

Two New York Public Library branches in Harlem were designated landmarks by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission earlier today. Completed in 1915, the George Bruce Branch at 518 West 125th Street was designed by Carrère & Hastings in Georgian Revival-style. Just down the road, the second beknighted library is the 125th Street Branch, an Italianate building designed by McKim, Mead & White and constructed thanks to Andrew Carnegie's renowned largesse. Sixteen other NYPL locations are on the LPC's no-touch list.