Comments on the article "Upheaval at the New York Public Library"

Today Facebook friends Trevor Dawes and Ricky Waller provided a link to an article in The Nation titled Upheaval at the New York Public Library (http://www.thenation.com/article/164881/upheaval-new-york-public-library) . I would like to recall my experiences at NYPL when I worked there from 1983-1990 in the Science and Technology Division and then comment on the article.

The Science and Technology Division (STC) was in Room 121 of what was then known as the Central Research Building at 42nd Street and 5th Avenue. That division were merged with the Economics and Public Affairs division of the library in the 1990s and later moved to SIBL (Science Industry and Business Library) at Madison Avenue and 34th Street. The collection of STC was limited to the physical sciences and engineering disciplines. The biggest problem that I faced as a librarian was locating the items requested by patrons. The archaic Billings call letter system was used for older items while newer materials were shelved on the third floor of the stacks by size. Since the books and periodicals were in stacks not open to the public, patrons had to submit call slips and wait for the materials. The librarian had to determine whether the item was in Room 121 or in storage at the Annex at 521 West 43rd Street. This was often not an easy job and patrons became annoyed when they had to wait or find out that the desired item was in another building.

NYPL, of course is a research library with a non-circulating collection. It was often called the “Library of Last Resort.” Too many patrons perceived it as a popular library and were referred to the Mid-Manhattan Library across the street. A large amount of money was needed to fund resources and staffing to serve independent scholars not affiliated with a university. Sadly, we did get our share of derelicts and other undesirables who used the library. Back then there was no internet, so researchers had to use print resources. In the late 1980s we introduced CD-ROM based databases.

Let’s turn the clock to 2011 and the article mentioned above which discussed the Central Library Plan (CLP) for the landmark building now known as the Schwarzman Building. All libraries including NYPL have faced terrible budget cuts and had to cut staff and resources. The article states that a few specialized divisions were closed. The centerpiece of the CLP would be the construction of a state of the art computer orientated library. This would mean demolishing the stacks that hold 3 million books.

The controversy as stated in the article is to decide if the Schwarzman should remain as a depository for scholarly printed materials or should it become a computer orientated library. At the risk of the ire of some of my librarian colleagues, I choose the latter.
Over the past 20 years more and more popular and scholarly publications have become electronic. I have seen many students refuse to touch a print resource even if it has the information they need. A move to an electronic library will actually bring more people to NYPL which implies more private funds coming in. The printed materials that are displaced can be moved to either the stack extension under Bryant Park or the storage facility in Princeton, NJ. As time passes, these materials will be used less often. If there is a space problem, perhaps some of the research libraries such as NYU or Columbia can adopt them. The article states that there is a pilot program in place that allows certain NYPL users to check out books from Columbia or NYU. In any event, it would be impossible to digitize every scholarly publication.

Just some thoughts from a librarian with over 30 years in the field.