The NY Public Library is once again in the news. A group of academics and preservationists have filed a lawsuit to stop the removal of three million noncirculating research books from the seven floors of shelves referred to as “the stacks.” These stacks now reside under the main building’s Rose Main Reading Room. Researchers and scholars could use these reference books at will. With the current $300 million renovation plan, the stacks would be destroyed to be replaced by more space for wider-use circulating books.
Half of the reference books that currently occupy the stacks would be moved storage facilities under Bryant Park; the other half would be moved to Princeton, NJ. The academics behind the law suit contend that it would take more than one to two business days for the books that would be housed in NJ to get to the library. Some books, they feel, would never get there. These delays would “severely and irreparably burden the ability …to receive information.” The lawsuit also demands that the NYPL halt its plan to sell off two additional major buildings–the Mid-Manhattan Library and the Science, Industry and Business Library.
A spokesperson for the library has stated that the renovation offers “a great opportunity to improve libraries for all New Yorkers.”