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Troy
Veteran Poster
Username: Troy
Post Number: 524
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 10, 2007 - 11:27 am: | 
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NYPL to Close
New York Observer, February 12, 2007
After more than 100 years of existence, the New York Public Library is closing down. Movers have already begun the gargantuan task of emptying the main building, an ornate Beaux-Arts structure located on Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets. Within a few weeks, 86 branch libraries throughout the city will be stripped of their contents and shuttered. Approximately 50 million items, including 20 million books, will be sold at city-run auctions throughout 2007. Google Inc. has agreed to...
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The article is available at the New York Observer web site http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NYOB&p_theme=nyob&p_actio n=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_text_search-0=NYPL%20AND%20to%20AND%20Close&s_dispstrin g=NYPL%20to%20Close&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweigh ts=no (fee based).
Someone sent me a PDF of a scanned copy which I will forward to anyone who wants to read it.
The article, by Steven Maynes, read likes like one of our discussion baord posts -- it is a freaking riot.
The story is, however,inidcative of our times -- Libraries have become a thing of the past...
Our Billionaire mayor made a "business" decision. Next up; the New York City Board of Edcuation, and public housing.
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Schakspir
Veteran Poster
Username: Schakspir
Post Number: 872
Registered: 12-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 10, 2007 - 12:46 pm: |
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Troy: Next up; the New York City Board of Edcuation, and public housing.
Schakspir: ...and what's left of all the good jobs, transportation, cultural life, etc., etc. Soon New York will look just like Moscow--800 years ago. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 7231
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 10, 2007 - 01:09 pm: |
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I'm appalled. This is almost comparable to book burning. The pride of Chicago is the Harold Washington Public library which was built to honor Chicago's first black mayor. I don't think it's in danger of being dismantled, so for once Chicago trumps New York. |
Libralind2
Veteran Poster
Username: Libralind2
Post Number: 613
Registered: 09-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 10, 2007 - 05:11 pm: |
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I had to clutch my heart..
LiLi |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 3424
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 10, 2007 - 05:26 pm: |
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I used to go to the library every few days, but once I had access to the internet it became obsolete for me - mostly because any topics that I wanted to research could be found online. You can now read entire books online and the net has enabled us to browse thru and buy books and has made things so much more convenient (and affordable). I think the internet will have a major impact on ALL libraries and bookstores in the coming years and perhaps eventually we won't use printed books at all.
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 7239
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 10, 2007 - 06:01 pm: |
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You're probably right, Mzuri. Public libraries will become extinct like dinosaurs. My grandson had the nerve to tell me that pencils will soon be obsolete. And instead of penmanship classes, kids are now taking keyboard courses. Ah, progress! |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 3427
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 10, 2007 - 07:39 pm: |
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No more pencils means the end of drawing and painting which means that all our little robotic offsprings shall create their artworks in computer generated digital form. Resistence is futile  |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3629
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 02:20 pm: |
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No penmanship--
Wonder how they'll make out when they start having the power outages and they also can't buy batteries?
Libraries will never be obsolete.
Remember they said paper was obsolete?
They are using more paper than ever in printers.
The more things change the more they stay the same. |
Troy
Veteran Poster
Username: Troy
Post Number: 525
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 02:29 pm: |
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When I was in school the was no World Wide Web, so the library was it. The library, when compared to the internet is a much more inefficent maner for organizing and disseminating information.
Even in the old days I used the library to access online data sources Lexus, Bloomberg, etc, and not the books...
I did however take my kids to library to introduce them to the facility. However when they closed the branch in my neighborhood 124th st and fifth (purportedly for "renovations") a few years ago. I have not stepped into a library since.
The article was very funny. It was almost satirical. I have not heard anything else about the libraries from another source...
Cynique, "Chicago trumping New York" -- I'll let that one slide... But hey Chi-town did already tear down Cabrini and Robert Taylor Houses right? Harold Washington Library is next. I hope y'all have school vouchers too.
Now what about people who do not have access to the internet at home... The Library was also a good place for people to gain free internet access.
Troy
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Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3636
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 03:18 pm: |
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I did however take my kids to library to introduce them to the facility. However when they closed the branch in my neighborhood 124th st and fifth (purportedly for "renovations") a few years ago. I have not stepped into a library since.
(A man who sells books who does not go to a library. Cute.
You must not have very much research to do) |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3638
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 03:27 pm: |
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This shows me why the computer generation is so ignorant. They think that 20 lines or so of text equals a book.
A while ago I told some young people that Hitler had got along with Jews while he was a bum in Vienna and in the Army--that in fact his commanding officer was a Jew and recommended him for the Iron Cross.
They all laughed. Of course, this was in a book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, and you guys don't read books.
Turned out this was even several places on the Internet, so apparently you guys don't read that either. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 3431
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 06:28 pm: |
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CH - I'm starting to get really concerned for you. Your posts barely make sense anymore and you seem to be getting more and more delusional. |
Troy
Veteran Poster
Username: Troy
Post Number: 527
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 07:46 pm: |
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Chris, I hate so say it but I'd have to agree with Mzuri. Your statements are illogical. As a book seller I get far more books, for free, than I know what to do with.
The books that I do not get for free I purchase. I have no need to visit a library. I took my kids to the library , got them a car -- the experience was like visiting a museum.
Have you ever heard of Project Guttenburg? It has been around for a long time; as a result many books in the public domain are available on-line in full text.
You realize Google is digitizing the entire libraries Oxford, Harvard, probably now the NYP...
New books are increasingly available in ebook format and are available online.
Chris libraries, int he present configuration (esentially unchanged from their inception) are obsolete.
The only one losing out are the less priviledged, but as computers continue to get cheaper computer will be a ubiquitous as televisions. In fact they may merge into the same device...
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Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3642
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007 - 11:12 am: |
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Troy--Mzuri:
You two are the ones who are delusional.
First of all you will get a lot of stuff in the public domain on the net--but damn few authors who can still squeeze a buck out of their work will not have it posted online.
I didn't go to MIT. So it takes me time to read a book. I can do about 60 pages an hour when I am fresh.
After a couple of hours of staring at a screen my eyes are burning like live coals. There is no way you are going to read 400 pages of text off a screen.
So, you say you download it. So you wind up with 400 loose pages of some book? I don't think so.
Let us go to your next point. Buying all the books. Probably online, since you two troglodytes are afraid to go into a library where you might have contact with real humans.
I don't want to fill up my house with eleventy million books. Been there, done that.
Furthermore, there are books that I want to read that I don't want to own.
You both need to get off line and get a real life.
But is that the only reason to go to a library?
Libraries offer all kinds of meetings, readings, and programs where you can sit and chat with people of like mind in an atmosphere conducive and filled with books.
I have read at libraries. Recently I was at a library, met a woman, told her about my books, they happened to have them there, and she checked them out right then.
A contact.
Really. Libraries are obsolete? Then maybe people are obsolete.
Get the hell off them computers and see the world. I guarentee you you'll be glad you did
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Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 3450
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007 - 12:22 pm: |
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So did you get laid after she read your books???
FYI - I'm a bookworm. I own tons of books. Most are reference types of books and so they aren't the standard page-turners that one would typically read from front to back but I do read more than the average person. I buy ALL of my books online and normally spend about $100 a month on books. That's a business-related expense and you know the deal on that.
FYI No 2 - Some people are making fortunes by selling information products, e-books, audio-books, how-to manuals, etc. as digital downloads. You need to get with the program. It's 2007.
FYI No 3 - It's two against one Chris, and at the rate you're going you may be institutionalized in the not too distant future. It's you that needs to "get-off" line and get a real life - because you spend just as much, if not more, time online than we do.
And let me make something clear to you in case you're not able to grasp the concept. I am an online merchant - I sell stuff online. My average ticket is $3,000 and I receive a constant stream of e-mails. I have to answer those because people who are going to drop $3Ks want their questions answered and since I want their funds transferred to my bank account, I give them my undivided attention in a prompt and timely manner. And that's the reason why I'm glued to my computer terminal. Maybe $3Ks isn't much to you, but this is what I do.
Troy runs this website among other things and I'd venture to say that he spends quite a bit of time online. I envision him in one of those cushy leather executive office chairs at an oversized mahogany desk. Or kicked back chillin in bed with his laptop while his woman is rubbing his feet. Take your pick.
We post here as a diversion - it is not the center of our universe.
What's your excuse???
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Crystal
Regular Poster
Username: Crystal
Post Number: 306
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007 - 12:45 pm: |
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This is very sad! I've spent a lot of pleasurable time in libraries and still get a little excited when I walk into a room filled from floor to ceiling with books that I can pick and choose from - without spending any money. Surfing through amazon is not nearly as fun.
I'm with Chris, I like the people I've met there and the main branch downtown has these big comfortable leather chairs that you can get lost in while you're getting lost in a good book. The kids are somewhat respectful and getting the attention of a group of preschoolers in a reading circle is a great feeling.
Unfortunately Chris I guess these guys are right. Libraries are becoming obsolete and of course so are <some> people.
And Cynique, your grandson is right too. My handwriting has deteriorated to the point that I have to print if I want someone to be able to read what I write.
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 7265
Registered: 01-2004
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007 - 01:08 pm: |
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There's still hope. Contrary to Troy's wishful thinking, Chicago's Harold Washington library is a fairly new state-of-the-art edifice and the current mayor, Richard M. Daley, wouldn't dare risk alienating his black constituency by tearing down this temple erected to honor Chicago's first black mayor. Similarly, in my home town our village board got this big grant and recently built a fine new attachment to our old library. Paying a visit to this book sanctuary, especially on a lazy summer day, when I can just stroll through the tree-lined streets that lead to its welcoming doors and where, upon entering, I can become immersed in the quiet ambience while leisurely browsing around, is still one of life's little pleasures for me. |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3652
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007 - 01:34 pm: |
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Cynique:
I just looooves ya! (SMEEE-EERRP!!!)--great big Cybersmack.
And in all of the libaries and branches in our town they got computers with internet access to use. And all of the catalogues and check out is computerized.
So the books and the monstrous cyber creations of Satan co exist peacefully, side by side.
Unless there is a power outage, two of which we had last year, during which now you cannot check out books.
GODAMNED COMPUTERS! |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3653
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007 - 01:36 pm: |
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Mzuri:
You are gonna bust hell wide open. You can't email a soul, you rank sinner! |
A_womon
Veteran Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1381
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007 - 03:01 pm: |
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Hey, I just went to the NYC library website and there is nothing on there about any of these libraries closing, nor can i find anything about it on the web |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 3456
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007 - 03:25 pm: |
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Chris Hayden - I'm going to heaven you oldfart
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Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3656
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007 - 03:44 pm: |
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Hey, I just went to the NYC library website and there is nothing on there about any of these libraries closing, nor can i find anything about it on the web
(It was all just some wishful thinking by
Servants of the Cyberdemons) |
Libralind2
Veteran Poster
Username: Libralind2
Post Number: 627
Registered: 09-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007 - 05:09 pm: |
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I wrote the library and this is the response:
ftschinkel@nypl.org writes:
Dear Ms. Chavis:
Absolutely not--just a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the rapidly changing
world of cyberspace. The New York Public Library remains a critical
informational resource available free of charge to all.
Fran Tschinkel
Director, Membership and Public Affairs
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Troy
Veteran Poster
Username: Troy
Post Number: 530
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007 - 05:25 pm: |
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Awoman, Chris I'm not convinced the article is real. I just found it hysterical.
I do know Google is scanning the library entire works. http://www.newyorker.com/printables/fact/070205fa_fact_toobin
Chris you have a bad habit of making false assumptions and running with them to grossly inaccurate conclusions...
Dude, every use for which you mention the library could be used is provided by other sources.
Cynique, y ustedes tambien, mi madre -- I never said I "wished" the libraries would close. I wish they would adapt to the times and continue to provide resoruces for thse who would not otherwise have them.
I do not want my tax dollars to go toward dusty old buildings full or books no one is borrowing.
They should and can be vibrant centers of community activity New York has MANY such libraries -- Harlem's own Schomburg Center for Research is a prime example.
Me with Lynda Koolish, John A. Williams at the Schomburg (see Chris I do get out the house)
So I do not want libraries to go away I want them to keep up with the times. In fact I financially support libraries with donations.
I should clarify myself, while I have not stepped into a Library to borrow a book in years; I often go into libraries for events, readings, and other cultural activies.
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 7269
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007 - 06:09 pm: |
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Troy, I was just teasing you about saying that Chicago's big public library was gonna go the way of its housing projects after I said that Chicago had finally trumped New York. LOL I know you appreciate libraries. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 3463
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007 - 08:28 pm: |
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Linda - You actually wrote someone to confirm if this article was true??? LOLOL!!!
NYPL to Close
By: Steven Maynes
Date: 2/12/2007
After more than 100 years of existence, the New York Public Library is closing down. Movers have already begun the gargantuan task of emptying the main building, an ornate Beaux-Arts structure located on Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets. Within a few weeks, 86 branch libraries throughout the city will be stripped of their contents and shuttered. Approximately 50 million items, including 20 million books, will be sold at city-run auctions throughout 2007. Google Inc. has agreed to absorb the library’s considerable online catalog. The move follows a sharp downturn in library traffic.
“The New York Public Library has been a great asset to the cultural life of the city,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement released by his office. “But times change and it is time to move on.”
“It’s a real smart move,” said chief librarian Frank Drammonds, who has worked out of the main library since 1958. “Make it a Duane Reade, if that’s what people want. Aisles crammed with crappy little medicines and ointments and whatnot. Massengill. Foot spray. Tea-tree shampoo. Seventy different kinds of facial soap. Lousy DVD’s for $14.99. Be my guest. The truth is, the people of this city don’t deserve the library. Last year I was talking to a third-grade class at one of these futile functions we’re always having, and some little snot-nosed brat raises his hand and says, ‘So we’re supposed to rent the books?’ I said, ‘It’s called borrowing, Timmy. Look into it.’ Kid was mystified.
“The only scholars who come by are half-dead. If a young grad student is able to pull himself away from his computer screen long enough to stop in, nine times out of 10 he wants to look at our comic-book collection for some moronic postmodern pastiche of a thesis that has nothing to do with anything. Our nation has seen fit to destroy one of the oldest cultures in existence as part of an unending war that would make Caligula blush, and students today are more concerned with debating the subtext of Stan Mack or Jessica Simpson than looking into anything of import. Great state of affairs.
“Couple weeks ago, we had a truly distinguished scholar—one of our regular visitors, God bless him. He had one of those metal walkers with wheels attached to the front legs and two little tennis balls, split open, at the back. I’m thinking: We live in a society that can’t come up with anything better than tennis balls for brakes on an elderly person’s walker? I’m going to commit suicide right now. And I almost did.
“Some people think we should have been more aggressive about making adjustments,” Mr. Drammonds continued. “Maybe we could have opened a café in the Reading Room. Sure, that would have been great. The New York Public Library & Café. Great idea. ‘Wanted: Librarians who can make a dry, half-caf cappuccino.’ Yes, that’s why we got into this line of work. Not out of any love for scholarship, but because we secretly wanted to become ‘barristas.’ Why don’t we install a glittering disco ball to the ceiling of the Reading Room and hire a D.J.? Oh, and how about a video-game room? And a titty bar. Free lap dances.
“The average New Yorker today thinks Thucydides is a sexually transmitted disease. Their idea of a scholar is George Clooney. Their idea of great literature is The Kite Runner. I thought things were bad when Oliver Stone, that moron, was the one to make a movie about J.F.K., but now we’ve got Emilio Estevez doing R.F.K. Wasn’t he in Young Guns? Have I gone insane?”
Asked to describe his future plans, Mr. Drammonds said, “I’ll tell you my future plans. There’s a little cave on the Afghani-Pakistan border. My ‘homies’ and I will be moving there tout de suite. Will I have mixed feelings about going on the attack against Western culture? Sure, but it beats living with these ding-dongs. I’ve had it.”
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Yukio
Veteran Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 1773
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 - 10:28 pm: |
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I'll ask a friend of mine who works @ the nyc public library. |
Yukio
Veteran Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 1776
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 14, 2007 - 04:07 pm: |
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The NYPL aint closing! |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3661
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 17, 2007 - 11:01 am: |
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Dude, every use for which you mention the library could be used is provided by other sources
(Only in your mind. How about one. Meeting people FACE to FACE?)
You must not really enjoy reading. For me there are no greater joys (though some that come close) to walking through a library, scanning scores and hundreds of titles all right there, and dozens of magazine covers and newspapers, and being able to reach out right there and get it right in my hand.
You cannot do this online, chum.
You got films in the library. You got CDs in the library. RIGHT THERE and you ain't got to order them from Amazon or anything and you can return them if you don't like them.
And you got real people you can stand there and talk to face to face.
Tomorrow I am going to attend a lecture in a library. Not in no chat room. Face to face. With refreshements and a little tour around at the same time.
Get off these machines and go out in the real world before you turn into a cabbage.
I should clarify myself, while I have not stepped into a Library to borrow a book in years; I often go into libraries for events, readings, and other cultural activies
(And you walk straight in and out without even looking at any books, magazines, newspapers, films, CDs--right?
COME ON, man!
I guess now they won't have to put something in a book to hide it from a Negro
THEY WILL BE ABLE TO HIDE IT IN A WHOLE BUILDING!
Troy Johnson hates libraries. I haven't felt this way since I found out there wasn't no Santy Clause! |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 3519
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 17, 2007 - 11:20 am: |
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Chris - Why are you always instigating some mess? Stop putting words in people's mouths - the man never said anything about hating on libraries. Leave Troy alone!!! |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3667
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 17, 2007 - 11:32 am: |
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Are you still sitting out by the swimming pool in that cheap bathrobe with a fishing pole and a line in the water like Big Al Capone did in his last years?
From your post, I think if you are not, you are not far from it. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 3522
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 17, 2007 - 12:42 pm: |
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Chris - You don't need to worry about what I'm doing, trust me. |
Troy
Veteran Poster
Username: Troy
Post Number: 534
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 18, 2007 - 11:15 am: |
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Dag it is clear Chris did not read my post.
Mzuri, thanks for the defense.
Cynquie my faith is restored (smile)
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Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 1878
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 24, 2007 - 06:57 pm: |
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Cheeeezzzzzzz......!!! You guys had me going. I was stunned speechless when I initially read the NYPL was closing. Makes no sense whatsoever. But what is the bottom line native New Yorkers? Please tell me it aint' so! I haven't heard anything about this.
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