The Ph.D. Program in History

at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York

GC Events

“Public Libraries and Public Space,” a conversation about the future of the NYPL research library with David Nasaw

The Public Space Working Group presents:

 

“Public Libraries and Public Space,” a conversation about the future of the NYPL research library with David Nasaw (History, CUNY Graduate Center)

 

Thursday, April 18, 2013, 5 – 7 pm, Room 4429

 

In the past two years, the New York Public Library has announced various plans for re-design and/or sale of properties at the main research library, the 40th street midtown circulating library and the Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) at 34th and Madison.

 

Please join the Public Space Working Group for a conversation about the future of the NYPL, and what libraries mean as public spaces in New York City.

 

Recommended reading (try to read one or two of these in advance):

 

“Lions in Winter, Part 1” by Charles Petersen, n+1 magazine, 5/9/12 http://nplusonemag.com/lions-in-winter

 

“In Defense of the New York Public Library,” by Robert Darnton, the New York Review of Books, 7/12/12 http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jun/07/defense-new-york-public-library/?pagination=false

 

“New York Public Library Dials Back Plan to Move Books” by Jennifer Maloney, Wall Street Journal, 9/19/12 http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2012/09/19/new-york-public-library-backs-off-plan-to-move-millions-of-books/

 

“Undertaking Its Destruction” by Ada Louise Huxtable, Wall Street Journal, 12/3/12 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323751104578151653883688578.html

 

“Firestorm on Fifth Avenue,” by Paul Goldberger, Vanity Fair, December, 2012 http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/12/new-york-public-library-re-model-controversy

 

“In Renderings for a Library Landmark, Stacks of Questions,” by Michael Kimmelman, NY Times, 1/29/13 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/arts/design/norman-fosters-public-library-will-need-structural-magic.html?ref=michaelkimmelman&_r=1&

Library Lion