Jefferson Market: from The Villager

This article in The Villager is excerpted here:

Volume 75, Number 21 | October 12 - 18, 2005

1-to-2-year rehab, smaller teen lounge for library
By Caitlin Eichelberger

When rumors of a proposed renovation of Jefferson Market Library at West 10th Street and Sixth Avenue surfaced, so too did area activists protective of the historic Greenwich Village landmark.
* * COMMUNITY OUTCRY OVER the SECRECY & WEB of DECEPTION
The community outcry has resulted in alterations to the reconfiguration plans and has gotten the full attention of library representatives. Attempting to bridge the gap in communication between administration and residents, branch librarian Frank Collerius and Susan Kent, director and chief executive of the New York Public Library’s branch libraries, attended the Community Board 2 Institutions Committee meeting last month. On Oct. 18, the pair will host tours of the library alongside the architects to give a sense of “how [the renovations] will feel, that kind of thing” Collerius said.
* * FACADE NEGLECT vs INTERIOR SPRUCE-UP
The hubbub began in early summer following a Villager article outlining the renovations, specifically a young adult space then termed a “teen lounge.” Comfortable furniture, study rooms, music and a television playing music videos were expected to round out the lounge, which was slated for the basement, bumping the reference section to the second floor with the general adult materials in a space already perceived by library users as crowded. Negative response from Villagers, however, has resulted in a reduction of the teen lounge space — originally slated for the entire basement — by 50%. The teen lounge will be . . .
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Jefferson Market
Jefferson Market.