May 22: The “Central Library Plan” and the Future of the New York Public Library

by Mark Athitakis | May-17-2012

The “Central Library Plan” and the Future of the New York Public Library: A Panel Discussion

Tuesday, May 22, 6:30-8:30

Theresa Lang Community Center, New School University

In an effort to open a public discussion of the New York Public Library's "Central Library Plan," the organizers of a petition calling on NYPL President Anthony Marx to reconsider the $350 million plan to remake NYC's landmark central library are holding a meeting on May 22 at the Theresa Lang Community Center of the New School for Social Research, 55 W 13th St, 2nd floor, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

National Book Critics Circle President Eric Banks will moderate a panel consisting of Joan Wallach Scott, a prominent historian at the Institute of Advanced Study who is spearheading the Committee to Save the New York Public Library; architect, preservationist, and architectural historian Mark Alan Hewitt, co-author of a monograph on Carrère & Hastings, architects of the main 42nd Street branch at issue; professor of history at The Graduate Center, CUNY, and award-winning biographer David Nasaw, author of The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst (a finalist for the 2000 NBCC award in biography) and Andrew Carnegie; and writer Charles Petersen, whose investigative essay on the recent changes at the NYPL appears in the latest issue of n+1 magazine, where he is an associate editor.

The NYPL has been invited to send a representative to join the panel discussion.