CASE STUDY VI:  OPEN NEW CULTURAL RESOURCE

SITUATION:  By the 1990s, the business and science collections of the 100-year-old New York Public Library (NYPL) had outgrown their space and, to a certain extent, their effectiveness. Addressing the need to combine these resources and to provide increased accessibility to rapidly growing electronic data, the Library created the $100 million Science, Industry, and Business Library (SIBL), which opened in the former B. Altman building at 34th Street and Madison Avenue. 

OVERARCHING GOAL:  Demonstrate currency and relevancy of the NYPL through the opening of a new cultural/educational resource. 

"The new Science, Industry and Business Library of The New York Public Library, which is to be dedicated this morning at Madison Avenue and 34th Street, is every bit as grand, in its way, as the library's great main building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

"This project is a victory not only for library users, but for the whole city: a landmark restored to the public realm." 

Paul Goldberger,
Front page, THE NEW YORK TIMES
 

TANGIBLE OBJECTIVES: 

• Demonstrate that by embracing 21st-century tools and spaces, NYPL could be of greater service to its millions of constituents and donors - and would not kill off the revered "book" in the process.

• Through targeted publicity, establish SIBL as a core resource for New York businesses that would contribute to the economic strength of the region.

• Dispel two major misconceptions: (a) that the Library is not business-community friendly and (b) that new technology is added at the expense of printed material.

• Position NYPL leaders as experts on information technology.

• Cultivate positive relationships with financial supporters in the public and private sectors.

TACTICS:

• Press materials were sent to targeted local, national, and international media to explain the complex new facility in clear and understandable terms.

• Computer-generated images of SIBL's interior space (designed by Gwathmey Siegel) were circulated during construction.

• Hard-hat tours for government officials, private donors, and the press generated interest while SIBL was under construction, creating a sense of anticipation.

• A Press Conference and a Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony were held a week apart to build momentum.

• A Summit of World Library Leaders, organized by the NYPL President, focused on the increasingly global nature of libraries and offered an opportunity to position SIBL as a model for future libraries.

RESULTS:

• More than 600 features appeared in the local, national, and international press, in at least eight languages, including the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Newsweek, Financial Times, and Architectural Digest.

• The Library received more than eight hours of cumulative television and radio coverage, including the CBS Evening News, ABC World News Tonight, NBC’s Today, and the CNN Evening News.

• Library President Paul LeClerc’s op-ed piece on libraries of the future was printed in The New York Times and reprinted in other newspapers nationally; subsequently, he was invited to speak on that topic on C-SPAN and CNN.

• NPR’s Science Friday broadcast a live two-hour national call-in program from SIBL, featuring its librarians as science and business experts.

• A year after opening, 550 people a day were using SIBL’s new Electronic Information Center, 25% more than projected usage.