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September 4, 2009

Park Slope Library to Close in Fall

library_090409.jpg
The Brooklyn Public Library's Park Slope branch at Sixth Avenue and Ninth Street is going to close this fall for renovations, reports The Brooklyn Paper, for up to two years. The $2 million renovation to the 1906 building will include the addition of an elevator, an air-conditioning system, an outdoor ramp, and restrooms to accommodate handicapped visitors. The city informed the Paper that construction will begin in the fall and the two-year cap is the maximum amount of time that the branch will remain closed. A start date hasn't been announced, but the BPL said that there will be a public meeting to discuss the project. GMAP
Photo by ZippyTheChimp




Posted by jscheff at 10:00 AM | Comments (26)
Categories: Park Slope, Planning

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Comments

These historic libraries are gems. Their restorations and renovations over the past twenty or so years is one of the city's unheralded triumphs. Perhaps it's best to keep a low profile, there will always be those to protest the elitist expenditure of money on "vanity" projects that beautify and ennoble.

Posted by: Minard Lafever at September 4, 2009 10:14 AM

This place has always seemed like a little time capsule to me. And I love it just the way it is. The reno that is described doesn't sound as if it'll alter the character much - thankfully.

Posted by: Park_loper at September 4, 2009 10:41 AM

good to hear, it really needs the sprucing up inside. i loved it but it felt like a sad old neglected lady.

Posted by: goldie at September 4, 2009 10:50 AM

Neglected, indeed. It's a wonderful place but has been treated like crap by the BPL for decades. Diminishing book stock, more offices downstairs for non-library city use, clerks who don't get trained and hence don't care if the library works smoothly or not. I love the place, but the BPL has been purposefully corroding it for ages so they can point to it and say "See, it's not needed. Let's put another marble stairway up in Central".

It could be great, but they need new leadership up top.

Posted by: jland at September 4, 2009 11:12 AM

Reading the headline, I was worried it was permanently closing. Two years is not too long to wait for these much-needed improvements. Glad to learn of this.

Posted by: bbbklyn at September 4, 2009 11:45 AM

This is great! Public libraries are treasures and I'm so glad this one is getting renovated since it's a great community resource...

Posted by: Miss Muffett at September 4, 2009 12:01 PM

i've never been inside a nyc public library. what are they like?

*rob*

Posted by: Butterfly at September 4, 2009 12:44 PM

i've never been inside a nyc public library. what are they like?

*rob*

Posted by: Butterfly at September 4, 2009 12:44 PM

This is one of the historic Carnegie libraries.

Posted by: elizabethJane at September 4, 2009 1:15 PM

rob --

They are big buildings with books in them. They also have movies, magazines, and newspapers. They let you take stuff home for free and keep it for a while if you promise to bring it back.

nsr

Posted by: northsloperenter at September 4, 2009 1:17 PM

sad that it could take 2 years though. our daughter goes to PS 39, which is without its own library, and uses that library.

Posted by: wishinone at September 4, 2009 1:25 PM

Love the inside of this gem! One wonders whether certain aspects of the renovation could be done without totally shutting down the facility: ie handicap access on the outside and certain portions of the inside work. Why can't a part of the interior be cordoned off while that area is worked on? Two years to do this project is insane, the entire Empire State Building was built in 13 months!

Posted by: MarionG at September 4, 2009 1:27 PM

The disabled-access is long overdue, and I'm glad to hear about the a/c. This summer they've been running a combination of huge LOUD fans and those standing a/c units that are the size of a refrigerator and vent outside through a flexible tube pushed through hastily-cut hole in the window. It keeps the temperature manageable, though not cool, but it is very noisy.

Maybe they'll do a little staff training in the interim. The desk staff is disinterested at best.

Posted by: zeebee_in_bklyn at September 4, 2009 1:39 PM

i've never been inside a nyc public library. what are they like?

*rob*

at first id think youre kidding, but then you are the dude who said the New Yorker is for snobs.

Posted by: goldie at September 4, 2009 1:47 PM

he tried to buy a black kid today too.

Posted by: joe_the_bummer at September 4, 2009 2:21 PM

:-/

*rob*

Posted by: Butterfly at September 4, 2009 3:12 PM

Rob - Libraries also lend videos. Try it, you'll like it.

Posted by: Arkady at September 4, 2009 3:19 PM

rob- you couldn't have gotten through college without going to a library. You have a double degree- one in psychology. How could you never set foot in a library?

Posted by: bxgrl at September 4, 2009 3:35 PM

omg! i never said ive never been to a library! hahaha. i said ive never been to a NYC branch one!! i was a total library nerd as a kid!


*rob*

Posted by: Butterfly at September 4, 2009 3:41 PM

I sorta thought that's what you meant, rob :-) (Whew!)

Posted by: bxgrl at September 4, 2009 4:09 PM

What are some of the other BPL branches that some of you like? Either aesthetically or services offered?

Posted by: HmmWhichNeighborhood at September 4, 2009 4:50 PM

I grew up using this branch and visited it every Saturday. In my youth it was well-run and well-stocked and the lighting was much better. Pete Hamill wrote a wonderful essay about it in the New York Times some years ago, "D'Artagnan on Ninth Street", http://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/26/books/d-artagnan-on-ninth-street-a-brooklyn-boy-at-the-library.html.

Posted by: Phoenix at September 4, 2009 6:05 PM

I grew up using this branch and visited it every Saturday. In my youth it was well-run and well-stocked and the lighting was much better. Pete Hamill wrote a wonderful essay about it in the New York Times some years ago, "D'Artagnan on Ninth Street", http://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/26/books/d-artagnan-on-ninth-street-a-brooklyn-boy-at-the-library.html.

Posted by: Phoenix at September 4, 2009 6:05 PM

I grew up using this branch and visited it every Saturday. In my youth it was well-run and well-stocked and the lighting was much better. Pete Hamill wrote a wonderful essay about it in the New York Times some years ago, "D'Artagnan on Ninth Street", http://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/26/books/d-artagnan-on-ninth-street-a-brooklyn-boy-at-the-library.html.

Posted by: Phoenix at September 4, 2009 6:05 PM

I grew up using this branch and visited it every Saturday. In my youth it was well-run and well-stocked and the lighting was much better. Pete Hamill wrote a wonderful essay about it in the New York Times some years ago, "D'Artagnan on Ninth Street", http://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/26/books/d-artagnan-on-ninth-street-a-brooklyn-boy-at-the-library.html.

Posted by: Phoenix at September 4, 2009 6:06 PM

Sorry about all the repeated comments - It's my first time posting and I guess I clicked too much!

Posted by: Phoenix at September 5, 2009 10:46 AM

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