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 Deal Details & Conserving Local Archival Collections

Library Journal's recent update on the Donnell Library boondoggle reveals new details about New York Public Library's deal with Orient-Express Hotels. In short, the hotel chain has paid NYPL an additional $9 million in recompense for a two-year project delay. Commenting on the article, RitaSue Siegel writes: "At a meeting at the City Council office LeClerc and the COO of the NYPL told a small group of us from the West 54-55 Street Block Association, representatives of CB5 and the liaison people from all the electeds that there will be a $30 million penalty paid to the NYPL by OE if OE does not break ground for the hotel with a library in it in 2011."

Yesterday's NY Times featured an informative article about paper conservation projects at the American Jewish Historical Society, the New York Academy of Medicine, and the New York Historical Society, all funded by Save America's Treasures.

Columbia Closes Four Science Libraries

Here's a major library consolidation announcement from my now-former employer, Columbia University Libraries. The four libraries in question were scheduled to close upon the completion of a new science library within the Northwest Corner Building at 120th and Broadway, but that timetable was modified due to economic imperatives. So it goes.

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.

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.

Since I've Been Gone: Kindle 2 and BPL Branches Renewed

Amazon has planned a mysterious press conference at the Morgan Library for February 9. Engadget, the NY Times' Bits Blog, and others have put two and two together: the new Kindle shall be revealed! Bits speculates that, along with a host of physical design changes, Kindle 2 will follow Sony Reader 700's lead and incorporate the new Broadsheet microchip from Epson with the now ubiquitous E-Ink.

[One of the "leaked" next-gen Kindle photos on Boy Genius Report.]

Also in the news, Mayor Bloomberg referred to the reconstruction of Brooklyn Public Library's Kensington branch while outlining his job creation plan. It looks like this sustainable design project, in the works since 2001, may actually get underway this June. Renderings and details are available at the City's Department of Design and Construction site.

Finally, BPL will re-open the doors of a fresh, shiny, elevatored(!) Kings Highway Library sometime this summer.

New School Libraries' Obscure Future

The New School student occupation of their Graduate Faculty building ended early yesterday morning with President Bob Kerrey's capitulation to some of their demands. Of particular interest is point number two:

I agree that students may use the GF building at 65 Fifth Ave until a suitable replacement is secured and instituted, which would include the re-installment of suitable library and study space. This would need to be approved by the USS.

Due to my limitation under the board, and because of repeated and voiced student concern about the university's investments, this is already underway for alternative space. I guarantee that by the beginning of spring semester I will provide new library space in Arnold hall. I will also provide 7000 feet of quiet study space at Sheila Johnson galleries by the end of spring semester. I agree to meet with the students to discuss the current plans, alternatives, and financial planning.

The new library space in Arnhold Hall was already scheduled to open January 20 (see Interim University Librarian Ed Scarcelle's comments on my previous post). Kerrey's promise of additional study space is, if acted upon, a significant accomplishment by the protesters that will benefit the entire student body. Considering the severity of the study space deficit, however, 7000 square feet is hardly sufficient. (If you're having trouble visualizing this, think Bowery Ballroom-size.)

More than half of Fogelman's collection is now in offsite storage. This makes sense, given that the Arnhold Hall space is temporary. In preparation for the move, however, only a tiny portion of the physical collection was available to students during the fall semester and, critically, during their finals period.

The new building to be constructed on the GF building's footprint will include a larger, centralized library facility that may merge Fogelman with the Gimbel Art & Design Library and the Kellen Archives Center. All of this is tentative, however: according to this article in the New School Free Press, construction plans for the "Signature Building" have been downsized and delayed indefinitely. With a future this uncertain, it's no wonder New School students are angry, frustrated, disheartened....