V isit us online a t w w w. M anha t t an E x pr e s s .co m
MIDTOWN, UPPER EAST & WEST SIDES
VOLUME 4, NUMBER 26
DECEMBER 27, 2018 – JANUARY 9, 2019
PHOTO BY BOB KRASNER
One of the lions, the symbols of the New York Public Librar y, outside the Stephen Schwar zman Building a.k.a. the Main Branch, at 42nd St. and Fifth Ave.
A new chapter for public libraries BY GABE HERMAN
I
s the New York Public Library “checking out” of its core responsibilities? Or do its current plans “check out”? As the N.Y.P.L. remains in the midst of overhauling its Midtown services, including the selling of one branch and the redesign of others, some library activists remain upset and charge N.Y.P.L. with shrinking its spaces and services and looking to continue selling branches. The N.Y.P.L. strongly denies this,
and argues it is making its system more efficient and modern, and that any branches sold are isolated incidents that are not part of a larger trend. The library also says it is expanding public space in many branches, including in Midtown. Citizens Defending Libraries is an advocacy group founded in 2013 over concerns that New York City libraries are being underfunded, while some are being sold, and physical spaces are being decreased. The group recently started a petition calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio and other officials to address
such issues, and has garnered more than 11,000 signatures so far. “This is not what the public wants,” said Michael D.D. White, co-founder of the organization, in a recent interview. “When we’re out collecting signatures, people are always upset about this.” N.Y.P.L.’s hotly debated Central Library Plan encapsulated many of these concerns and drew criticism from scholars, the media and the public. That plan, first introduced in 2007 and revived in 2012, would have sold both the Mid-Manhattan library, at 455 Fifth Ave. at E. 40 St., and the Science,
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Industry and Business Library at 188 Madison Ave., at E. 34th St., and altered the Public Library’s main branch, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, at Fifth Ave. and W. 41st St., a research library, so that it would also be a circulating library. The sweeping plan also called for books to be moved to New Jersey, which protesters felt would cause delays in access. There were three lawsuits filed against the plan, two of which included Citizens Defending Libraries. The liLIBRARY continued on p. 3