New York Public Library Rethinks Design - WSJ.com

NY CULTURE

• August 27, 2013, 9:56 p.m. ET

New York Public Library Rethinks Design

In Response to Critics, a New Renovation Plan Will Focus on Books, not Atriums

• JENNIFER MALONEY
• 
  

The New York Public Library, responding to outcry over its plans to demolish century-old book stacks, will this fall unveil a new design that preserves a significant portion of them, its president, Anthony Marx, said Tuesday.

The library disclosed its plans in response to questions from The Wall Street Journal about alternatives it had considered to the $300 million renovation, which has sparked two lawsuits brought by scholars and preservationists, including a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, aiming to block the stacks' destruction.

Those alternatives, since scrapped, included mothballing the stacks or restoring and opening them to researchers as the Bibliothèque Nationale de France is doing, according to documents obtained from the State Historic Preservation Office through a public-records request. Until now, the renovation plan for the New York Public Library's landmark Fifth Avenue building has called for dismantling the stacks and replacing them with a new circulating library designed by British architect Norman Foster.

Enlarge Image

Noah Rabinowitz for The Wall Street Journal

Stacks in New York before they were emptied.

The library still intends to build a new circulating library in the 80,000-square-foot space under the Rose Main Reading Room. But in contrast to renderings released in December, which envisioned a vast atrium, the new design will incorporate the stacks as "a prominent feature," Mr. Marx said. They would hold the circulating library's books and be configured in a way that allows patrons to "see and experience" what the stacks were like as originally conceived by the building's architects, Carrère and Hastings, he said.

Reading rooms will be emphasized, "rather than atriums," Mr. Marx said. The design is not yet complete, and the library has not yet calculated its cost, he said. Read more...

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Freedom of Information Day at the New York Public Library March 16th, 2011

Who: David Barstow, of The New York Times

Freedom of Information Day at the New York Public Library

March 16, 2011 at 10:30 a.m.

Freedom of Information Day will be observed at the Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) of The New York Public Library (188 Madison Ave. @ 34th Street) on Wednesday, March 16, with a presentation and discussion from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Conference Room 014/015 on the lower level of the library. This year’s guest speaker is David Barstow, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for The New York Times. He will discuss freedom of information and the freedom of the press, particularly how accessing government information using the Freedom of Information Act affects the work of journalists.  The title of his presentation is: “ Freedom of Information: The Act (FOIA), the Press and the Future.”

Established by a Congressional Joint Resolution in 1989, Freedom of Information Day is held on or near March 16, the birthday of James Madison, fourth President of the United States and primary architect of the Bill of Rights. The observance underscores the importance of freedom of the press, speech, information, and the public’s right to know.

David Barstow has been an investigative reporter for The New York Times since 2002. Mr. Barstow joined The New York Times in 1999, as a reporter for the Metro desk.

In 2002 and 2003, Mr. Barstow reported extensively on workplace safety in America, leading a team of journalists that produced two series for The Times and an hour-long documentary for the PBS program "Frontline." The two series, "Dangerous Business" and "When Workers Die,'' won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2004. The two series and the documentary were also recognized with the duPont Silver Baton, an award long regarded as the Pulitzer Prize of television reporting.


In 2009, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for "Message Machine," two articles that exposed a covert Pentagon campaign to use retired military officers, working as analysts for television and radio networks, to reiterate administration "talking points" about the war on terror.


His most recent article, “Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours,” appeared on December 26, 2010.


Before joining the paper, Mr. Barstow worked for The St. Petersburg Times in Florida beginning in 1990, reporting on a wide range of issues. While there, he was a finalist for three Pulitzer Prizes: in 1997, he was the lead writer for coverage of race riots and was a finalist for spot news reporting; in 1998, he helped lead coverage of financial wrongdoing at the National Baptist Convention and was a finalist for investigative reporting; and, that same year, he wrote a series of stories about tobacco litigation and was a finalist for explanatory journalism. Before joining The St.
Petersburg Times, Mr. Barstow was a reporter for The Rochester Times-Union in upstate New York.


This event is free and open to the public. No reservations are required.
Erminio D'Onofrio
Head of Information Services
The New York Public Library
Science, Industry and Business Library
188 Madison Ave.
New York, NY 10016
Tel.: 212-592-7037
Fax: 212-592-7061
edonofrioATnypl.org

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