Closing the library was a significant symbolic loss for Time Inc. reporters and editors, several executives said.
The proposal to close the library failed to get backing from scrutiny resources in a council meeting last week, a step in the right direction.
The mayor's request generated ill feelings among the library's board, and at a January meeting its trustees rescinded their earlier vote to reduce the budget by $400,000, which would have meant closing the library on Fridays.
He wants to close the library system's biggest circulating branch, the Mid-Manhattan (located just across the street) and the Science, Industry and Business Library (also in Midtown) and somehow wedge their contents into the already overstocked central research library.
But we have our suspicions Croydon was planning to close the library all along; a leaked letter, allegedly from Croydon's chief exec to his counterpart in Lambeth, requests half the costs of valuing the library's assets.
Rainwater poured in again two weeks ago, closing the library for four days, enraging patrons and leaving Rodney J. Lee, the institution's director, more concerned than ever about its future.
One example of the former: "Curry, as you may not be surprised to hear, was the kind of student who protested when the university proposed to close the library at midnight rather than leave it open all night".
And, again, though the chief executive, Lynne Brindley, has said that the library has been able "to avoid more radical cuts", she notes that the management will have to consider closing the library for one or more days a week or charging for reader's passes if the budget is reduced further.
