Anthony Marx

The New York Public Library, responding to outcry over its plans to demolish century-old book stacks, will this fall unveil a new design that preserves a significant portion of them, its president, Anthony Marx, said Tuesday. The library disclosed its plans in response to questions from The Wall Street Journal about alternatives it had considered to the $300 million renovation, which has sparked two lawsuits brought by scholars and preservationists, including a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, aiming to block the stacks' destruction.

New York, NY (July 9, 2013) – The National Book Foundation, presenter of the National Book Awards, has elected three new members to its Board of Directors: Annette Gordon-Reed, Winner of the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize; Anthony Marx, President and CEO of The New York Public Library; and Deborah Needleman, Editor-in-Chief of T: The New York Times Style Magazine.

The addition of these new board members builds on recent steps the National Book Foundation has been taking to broaden the reach of the National Book Awards. These steps included adding a “long-list,” expanding the pool of potential judges, and announcing the finalists on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

The reluctance of most big publishers to make ebooks available through library lending is a topic of widespread attention and concern. The AAP turned a chunk of its annual meeting over to the topic and Dr. Anthony Marx, the President and CEO of the New York Public Library, used his time to volunteer his institution for experimentation to find a model for ebook lending that would work for publishers. I had occasion to talk to a number of Big Six publishers in the middle of last year about their position on library sales.