NYPL Shamelessly Issues `Save Our Library’ (“I Stand With” Our Library) Buttons For Libraries That It, Itself, Is Destroying, Selling and Snuffing Out Of Existence

Citizens Defending Libraries suggested that you wear buttons to support the fight against the sale and shrinkage of our libraries, the elimination and banishment of books and librarians.  .  .

 . .  We also often use a picture of our “Don’t Sell Our Libraries!” button at protests and as our logo to identify our work.

When suggesting the wearing of buttons to support our NYC libraries maybe we needed to be more specific, ultra-specific about what buttons to wear. . .

. . .  Why?

Case-in-point: Quite shamelessly the NYPL, the New York Public Library, has begun issuing buttons, “I Stand With” Our Library buttons for the very same libraries it is selling, shrinking, snuffing out and eliminating the books at.

Library becomes comic book museum

Which is the most shameless of the buttons?: Maybe the “I Stand With Science, Industry & Business Library.”  The NYPL is not only doing away with this science library, the biggest science library in New York City, it is selling the real estate premises of the magnificent relatively recently built and publicly paid for library to one of the world’s richest men, a man who made his wealth though science and who is the son of a man who worked in a library, who wants to turning what was a library into a comic book museum.  See: Wall Street Journal Reveals Fate Of SIBL, The City’s Biggest Science Library: Super-Wealthy Paul Allen Will Turn It Into “Pop-Culture Museum.”

A close second to the shamelessness of this button is probably the “I Stand With Mid-Manhattan Library.”  The Mid-Manhattan Library is the NYPL’s and the city’s largest circulating library.  The NYPL is now subjecting it to an expensive reworking that is part of a consolidating shrinkage that eliminates library space, eliminates books and has been repeatedly advertised by its architects as setting up an open path for the elimination of books.  See: Open House New York Hosts an NYPL Presentation of Its Mid-Manhattan Library “Renovation” Plan.

The consolidating shrinkage plan to which the Mid-Manhattan Library is being subjected is linked to and involves the elimination of the science library.  It may also be viewed as linked to and a further progress in the overall library elimination and consolidation scheme that began in 2007 when another central destination library, the beloved Donnell Library, was sold for a pittance and closed in a shrink-and-sink deal to create a private luxury tower.  Many of the books being eliminated from Mid-Manhattan are books that were supposed to be housed by the Mid-Manhattan Library and that came over to it from the Donnell Library after Donnell's closure and elimination as a central destination library.

Across the street from Mid-Manhattan, the NYPL is pursuing another book eliminating so-called renovation as it commercializes the 42nd Street Central Reference library banishing research books and converting research library space to the uses (see the wine bar).  See:  NYPL’s Presentation of its “Master Plan” to alter and commercialize the 42nd Street Central Reference Library.

Are these “I Stand With” buttons that the NYPL is issuing for the public to wear for libraries that the NYPL, itself is attacking and eliminating just being issued thoughtlessly, flung out by button making machines because the NYLP, with blind automaticity, is issuing buttons for every library in the system?; I which case there will also be extant “I Stand With” buttons for the other libraries the NYPL is planning to turn into real estate deals like the Inwood Library, strongly opposed by the community, which is laminated to a radical upzoning of the community that destructively will make the community unrecognizable as it tears apart its very fabric.  See: Testimony To City Council Subcommittee Respecting Proposed Sale of Inwood Library for Redevelopment and Upzoning of the Inwood Community.

It is much worse to think that these buttons are not being issued thoughtlessly, but that is probably the case.  The NYPL spends far too much on public relations and the public relations people they hire are exceedingly conscious of putting a good spin on things as the NYPL sells off and shrinks libraries looking for ways to please the real estate community.  In fact, that particular good spin on real estate deals is probably the top priority of those public relations people.

That means that the “I Stand With” buttons for libraries that are being attacked and destroyed is really just a typical part of the public relations play book, which borrows from Orwell: When you are doing something the public will view as unpleasant and objectionable, advertise that you are doing the opposite.  In Orwell’s “1984" war was waged by the “Ministry of Peace”; propaganda was issued by the “Ministry of Truth” which also took charge of the ongoing rewriting history and eliminating facts as fast as they became inconvenient; the “Ministry of Plenty” was in charge of rationing and keeping the public in poverty.  Naturally, all sorts of reverse-speak slogans abound in the novel as well: “War is Peace”; “Freedom is Slavery”; “Ignorance is Strength.”

Similarly, when the NYPL launched the consolidating shrinkage of its Central Library Plan with its extraordinary elimination of library space that originally (before Citizens Defending Libraries stepped in, including with a law suit) involves completely selling off the Mid-Manhattan Library along with the 34th Street Science, Industry & Business Library, the NYPL said they were creating more library space.  Mayor Bloomberg touting the same plan crowed deceptively that he was creating the city’s biggest library.  It’s not unlike the way that Bloomberg’s recent upzoning of Mid-Manhattan near Grand Central Station for far bigger skyscrapers was advertised as a `congestion elimination' plan.  See: Deceptive Representations By New York Public Library On Its Central Library Plan: We’re NOT Shrinking Library Space, We Are Making MORE Library Space!

The selling off of libraries like Donnell, and the recently invested in Science Library, along with the shrink-and-sink sell off for a luxury tower of the second biggest library in Brooklyn, the Business, Career and Education Brooklyn Heights Library in Downtown Brooklyn all represent a significant disinvestment from libraries, but the  “I Stand With” buttons include (at the bottom in smaller print) another Orwellian reverse-speak slogan: “Invest In Libraries.”

The reverse-speak “Invest In Libraries” slogan goes back further to an earlier set of buttons city library administration officials were issuing.  At a number of City Council hearings people arriving wearing these “Invest In Libraries” buttons were allowed to speak first and advocate the current course of selling off libraries while defenders from Citizens Defending Libraries showing up to testify wearing “Don’t Sell Our Libraries!” buttons were allowed to testify only if they stayed around long enough to testify at the bitter end of the hearing after the press and the rest of the audience departed.

How to handle the NYPL’s reverse-speak “I Stand With” defends our libraries (and the “Invest In Libraries”) buttons?  We think we’ve got the answer in the bag. . .  It’s the equivalent of wearing a whole lot of “Don’t Sell Our Libraries!” buttons all at the same time, and you don’t have to worry about moving your buttons to a new garment all the time whenever you change clothes. . .

Above: We went shopping for custom-made Citizens Defending Libraries tote bags and got the above bags made by three different companies.

We went shopping to find good Citizens Defending Libraries tote bags (see above).

We liked these- easy to order- best.

Our favorite bag: The smallest of three sizes modeled above perfectly holds a full size loose-leaf notebook. 

We like this one (above) especially and this is the easiest to order.  You can order in any one of three sizes.  The images are on both sides!  Most of the cost of what you order goes just to cost of the bag and to its manufacturer, but a small token amount will go to Citizens Defending Libraries to help our fight.  Having gotten some bags we ordered we are very happy with the quality of the product and the bags should last very durably.

This (above) is another bag we ordered and were happy with, but, while not that expensive (even adding shipping) for something that's very well made, it would be more complicated to order because you would have to do so through us.  You would have to contact us (put #CDLTotebags in your email) to say what you want.

We ordered these less expensive bags (above), but were not very satisfied with the vibrancy of the images or clarity of the details.

These vinyl bags (above) would make great, easy to carry around, collapsible shopping bags that would be fairly inexpensive, but we would need a number of people to contact us (probably getting a number of them- 50?- each) to make a bulk order possible.

In any event, unlike the NYPL, we mean it when we say it: “Don’t Sell Our Libraries!”

The NYPL's buttons may be bigger than our “Don’t Sell Our Libraries!” buttons, but our “Don’t Sell Our Libraries!” stickers are bigger than their buttons!