May 17, 2012

Is the New York Public Library Seizing the Future or Renouncing Its Past?

Introduction

Joyce Dopkeen / The New York Times The Rose Main Reading Room in the main branch of the New York Public Library, Manhattan.

The New York Public Library’s $300 million plan to sell its Mid-Manhattan branch and the Science, Industry and Business Library and consolidate them in a renovated main building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street continues to generate criticism. Opponents, hundreds of scholars and others who have signed a petition to block the plan, have said it would undermine its mission as a research center because millions of books would be moved to a storage facility in Princeton, N.J. But library officials say the move is vital to saving the two branches, would have little effect on research and would bring in more users. Should the library go forward with the plan?

Read the Discussion »

Debaters

An Unavoidable Necessity

Robert Darnton, director, Harvard University library

If the library’s business plan continued to be business-as-usual, it would go out of business.
Part of a Long-Term Plan to Cut Research

Charles Petersen, N+1 magazine

Current trends indicate the savings will come at the expense of research.
Scholars and the Public Can and Must Co-Exist

Howard Dodson Jr., director, Howard University Library

The library lions guard the 'People’s Palace,' not the 'Scholars Palace.' Still, under the plan, research functions will be preserved.
Research Will Be Delayed and Impaired

Caleb Crain, Author

Downgrading from 5 million books onsite to 2 million is like downshifting from a car's engine to a lawnmower's.
Too Many Questions, Too Little Discussion

Joan W. Scott, author, "The Politics of the Veil"

The New York Public Library is, with the Library of Congress, the only unrestricted institution in the United States devoted to serious research.