Happy Independence Day! Big news on the libraries!
It is fitting that on the day before we celebrated the Fourth of July, freedoms won by those who fought for the rights of all, that a lawsuit would be filed against the NYPL for their current plan to demolish research stacks, remove books, and sell libraries. See the two articles with links below
New York Times
July 4, 2013, 3:08 pm Comment
Opponents Sue to Block New York Public Library Renovation Plan
By PATRICIA COHEN
Wall Street Journal
July 4, 2013, 12:00 AM
Lawsuit Filed to Stop New York Public Library Renovation
By Jennifer Maloney
http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2013/07/04/lawsuit-filed-to-stop-new-york-public-library-renovation/
The suit brought on by Advocates for Justice states “the removal of the stacks would impinge on the public’s right to receive information under the First Amendment; and that the consolidation of a circulating library inside a research library constitutes a breach of the library trustees’ fiduciary duties because it would diminish the library’s research function.” We applaud the efforts by Jacob Morris.
In the meantime, here is the word from retired librarian Rita who visited the Mid-Manhattan library last week, “What my colleague said about the emphasis on most of this new space explains why they wanted to pitch out the reference materials from Mid Manhattan ASAP. They have no intention of taking any of them--it will only be circulating books. So when the NYPL says they will move "MM" into the new space--it is simply not true--they will only move the circulating materials. Mid-Manhattan featured a heavy component of reference materials which are now mostly gone.”
“I heard that lots of staff at Mid-Manhattan are now Information Assistants (paraprofessionals with Bachelor's) and not librarians. That reflects …the emphasis on just having circulating books…what's really objectionable is replacing so many librarian positions with paraprofessionals. They are only supposed to do that type of work under supervision of librarians but they are possibly using the presence of a librarian, any librarian, on the premises to cover that. At least I hope there's a librarian somewhere on the premises!”
Canvass the Main 42 Street Library and Mid-Manhattan library on Wednesday evening from 6:00-7:30 PM, steps of the 42 Street Library and in front of 40th Street and 5th Ave.
Canvass the Mid-Manhattan library, 40th Street and 5th Ave on Thursday from 12:30-2:00.
Canvass Brooklyn Heights Library next Friday from 9:00 AM-1:00 PM. Bring them cold water and thank the staff for working in an unairconditioined building! Join a care team for the staff!
Next CDL meeting is Sunday at 101 Clark Street, Cadman Towers, 4:30 PM and ending at 6:00 PM. Take any subway to Court Street Borough Hall.
Be prepared to go to the court hearings when we have more information for you.
Citizens Defending Libraries stands for the rights for all to access information and public libraries. We also stand against the exploitation of public resources for private gain and the exclusion of the public in decisions made about the publically owned resources.
