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In 2011, the New York Public Library established an official unit for digital experimentation—NYPL Labs. Over the six years that followed, what began as a small research and development outfit for special digital projects grew into a visionary think-and-do tank for making the library’s two centuries of collections digital and usable for the years to come. A hybrid team of technologists, librarians, and designers would start to assemble the building blocks of an urban memory infrastructure. — Urban Omnibus
Shannon Mattern, associate professor of media studies at The New School, and Ben Vershbow, founder of NYPL Labs, discuss the recent digitalization efforts undertaken by the New York Public Library system as it works to turn the library's "vast collections into usable data, connecting maps... View full entry
NYPL's Riverside branch has initiated a new program called "Grow Up Work Fashion Library", loaning neckties, briefcases and handbags to assist library members in their job search. The items may also be loaned out for formal occasions, with the only requirement being that that the member owe less... View full entry
Soon after a major renovation and reopening for the Rose Reading Room at their flagship Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the NYPL is now moving forward with another mammoth revamp on its Mid-Manhattan Library. The NYPL offers a first look at the overhaul, a project they are calling a “state-of-the-art library that will serve as both a model and catalyst for a rejuvenated library system.” — 6sqft.com
People love the New York Public Library, and yet there’s a general agreement that it cannot survive in its current state. [...] While strong points have been made on all sides of the debate over the NYPL's future as a center of research, a real conversation about its future as an architectural treasure is just now emerging — and thankfully so, for the fate of the institution is also the fate of one of New York's most iconic landmarks. — artinfo.com
