Payday for the NYPL! « ~Yale Arts Library Blog~

Payday for the NYPL!

March 11, 2008 · No Comments

NYPL

The New York Public Library received a $100 million donation from Wall Street financier Stephen A. Schwarzman.

“The gift from Mr. Schwarzman, a library trustee and buyout guru who made fortunes as the chief executive of the Blackstone Group, is among the largest to any cultural institution in the city’s history.”

Despite his impossibly generous donation, the following quote from a NY Times article on the donation is fairly despicable:

“The library helps lower- and middle-income people — immigrants — get their shot at the American dream.”

I am sorry but that statement is so wrong in so many ways. First, it is condescending towards the very people he claims are enlightened by the NYPL. Am I to assume Mr. Schwarzman does not go to the NYPL to fulfill the American dream? Or did he when and if he was simply middle or, gasp, lower class. Second, the NYPL is a top-notch research library that happens to be a public institution. The library caters to and is invaluable to all social classes, ethnicities, etc. It’s collections are used by everyone.

While I am incredibly happy to hear the NYPL is getting loads of money to continue to serve the public good and we should all be thankful Mr. Schwarzman is so generous, his lack of sensitivity to the NYPL’s mission and patrons is galling.

Here is a press release from the NYPL regarding their $1 billion redevelopment plan.

Posted by: Ian

Categories: Uncategorized

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The New Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library:

Over a decade in the planning, the new Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library in the Paul Rudolph Building reflects and meets the changing needs of teaching, research, and learning in the arts at Yale. Arts Library collections and staff, currently housed in a number of buildings across campus including the swing space at 270 Crown Street, will move into the Haas Family Arts Library later this summer in time for the fall semester. The Library will house the collections of the Art + Architecture Library, the Drama Library, and the Arts of the Book Collection, as well as staff and services for the Visual Resources Collection, and will become the physical and intellectual center for the pursuit of research, teaching, learning, and practice of the arts at Yale. The Haas Family Arts Library will feature a variety of spaces for individual study, group study spaces, a large teaching space, and secure reading and teaching spaces for Arts Library special collections. The Special Collections Reading Room, a dramatic feature of the central two-story atrium, enhances interdisciplinary studies by realizing the long-planned consolidation of the many important special collections of the Arts Library, including the Arts of the Book Collection, one of the largest special collections at Yale and one of the most important book arts collections in North America. The Special Collections Exhibit area, which will continuously showcase exhibitions of the Library’s treasures, will feature a plaque recognizing a significant gift from William H. Wright, ’82. More information on Arts Library services during the planned move period will be made available over the coming weeks on the Library's web site: www.library.yale.edu/art/.

~Yale Arts Library Blog~