The New York Public Library is in a custody battle for its soul. In a proposal with the unfortunate Politburo-sounding title Central Library Plan, the NYPL’s trustees would like to spend $300 million to transform the monumental 1911 Beaux-Arts Main Research Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street into a hybrid of research, circulation, computing and café lounging—more coffee bars and other chatty spaces. The Norman Foster redesign would be partly financed by a yard sale, of the Mid-Manhattan branch across the street (the largest circulating library in the country), and the Science, Industry and Business Library on 34th Street.
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