Trustees & Staff

Trustees

Byron Bell
Charles Berry
Ralph S. Brown Jr.
Margaret Mather Byard
Robert A. Caro
Lyn Chase
Margaret Cook
Henry S.F. Cooper Jr.
William J. Dean
Benita Eisler
Christopher Gray
James Q. Griffin
Shirley Hazzard
Anthony D. Knerr
Jenny Lawrence
Walter Lord
Jean Parker Phifer
Theodore C. Rogers
Constance R. Roosevelt
Jeannette Watson Sanger
Barbara H. Stanton
Fawn White

Staff

FULL-TIME
Steven Baumholtz
Paul Burley
Susan Chan
Jane Goldstein
Endang Hertanto
Janet Howard
Steven McGuirl
John McKeown
Mark Piel
Ingrid Richter
Carrie Silberman
Diane Srebnick
Jianmin Wang

PART-TIME
Harry Abarca
Heather Althoff
Aloha Antonio
Arevig Caprielian
Victor Crespo
Stephanie Gayle
Gladys M. Gomez
Krishna Guha
Sara Holliday
Marie Honan
Alex G. King
Randi Levy
J. Kimberly McKenzie
Diana Rupp
Peggy Levin Salwen
Linnea Holman Savapoulas
Dawn Smith
Howard Stein
Sasha Stumacher
Marian Thatos
Stanley Weinman

Library Committees

(June 2001 - May 2002)

Executive Committee

William J. Dean, Chair
James Q. Griffin, Treasurer
Charles G. Berry, Secretary
Ralph S. Brown Jr.
Barbara H. Stanton

Audit Committee

Charles G. Berry
Ralph S. Brown Jr.

Book Committee

Benita Eisler, Chair
Marilyn Bender Altschul
Richard Aspinwall
Lucienne Bloch
Margaret Mather Byard
Lyn Chase
Jules Cohn
Henry S.F. Cooper Jr.
Margaret Edsall
Helen Evarts
Linda Fritzinger
Malcolm Goldstein
Shirley Hazzard
Richard Herrman
Sarah Plimpton
Theodore C. Rogers
Daniel M. Rossner
Barbara Wriston

Building Committee

Christopher Gray, Chair
Byron Bell
Henry S.F. Cooper Jr.
Clara Dale
Jean Parker Phifer
Theodore C. Rogers
Barbara H. Stanton

Education and Community Outreach Committee

Susan Robbins, Chair
Mary Allen
Barbara A. Barker
Nancy Drosd
Peggy Ellis
Carolyn Goodrich
Joanna Humphreys
Pat Langer
Louise Monjo
Nancy Winslow Parker
Jean Parker Phifer
Jeannette Watson Sanger
Esme Usdan
Fawn White

Finance Committee

James Q. Griffin, Chair
Charles G. Berry
Anthony D. Knerr
Theodore C. Rogers
Barbara H. Stanton

Lectures and Exhibitions Committee

Jeannette Watson Sanger, Chair
Margaret Mather Byard
Lyn Chase
Henry S.F. Cooper Jr.
William J. Dean
Jenny Lawrence
Constance R. Roosevelt
Barbara H. Stanton
Fawn White

Library Committee

Ralph S. Brown Jr., Chair
Margaret Mather Byard
Lyn Chase
Henry S.F. Cooper Jr.
Christopher Gray
Jenny Lawrence
Walter Lord
Jean Parker Phifer
Theodore C. Rogers
Constance R. Roosevelt
Jeannette Watson Sanger

Long-Range Planning Committee

Ralph S. Brown Jr., Chair
Byron Bell
Charles G. Berry
Lyn Chase
Henry S.F. Cooper Jr.
William J. Dean
Benita Eisler
Christopher Gray
Jenny Lawrence
Jean Parker Phifer
Theodore C. Rogers
Constance R. Roosevelt
Barbara H. Stanton
Fawn White

New York City Book Awards Committee

Constance Rogers Roosevelt, Chair
Barbara Cohen
Jules Cohn
Joan K. Davidson
Joshua B. Freeman
Christopher Gray
Elizabeth Barlow Rogers
Jonathan Rosen
Jean Strouse
Wendy Wasserstein

Nominating Committee

Jenny Lawrence, Chair
Henry S.F. Cooper Jr.
Walter Lord
Jean Parker Phifer
Jeannette Watson Sanger
Barbara H. Stanton

Personnel Committee

James Q. Griffin, Chair
Charles G. Berry
Ralph S. Brown Jr.
Barbara H. Stanton

Renovation Committee

Ralph S. Brown Jr., Chair
Byron Bell
Lyn Chase
Henry S.F. Cooper Jr.
William J. Dean
Christopher Gray
Jean Parker Phifer
Theodore C. Rogers
Barbara H. Stanton

Report of the Chairman

William J. Dean
(June 2001 - May 2002)

Our wonderful Library will celebrate its 250th anniversary in 2004. To honor this event, and prepare the Library for future years of service, two years ago the Board of Trustees established a Long-Range Planning Committee. The Committee worked diligently under the chairmanship of trustee Ralph S. Brown, Jr. Its report can be found on the Library's website. (Copies are also available at the front desk.)

Among its most important conclusions, the Committee found that the Library is running out of space for books and for readers. It recommends a building plan that will increase the Library's reading and study areas by 45 percent and our stack space by 15 percent. Staff working areas also will be much improved.

The new space can be found through renovations and judicious additions to our present building, without changing our fine public rooms. Construction can take place in one or more phases over time, and the Library can remain open during all, or almost all, of the work. Construction will not start before 2004 at the earliest. We need time to develop final building plans, make determinations of costs and obtain city approvals. We estimate that the total cost of the project will be in the $6.5 million range. Although the trustees believe it is appropriate for some part of this to come from the endowment, the Library will also need substantial support from our members. We are fortunate to have trustee Barbara H. Stanton serve as chair of the Library's 250th Anniversary Fund Capital Campaign.

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, the Sicilian writer, wrote The Leopard, one of my favorite books. His biographer, David Gilmour, writes that "Literature was essential to Lampedusa's life. It gave him most of his ideas and much of his happiness." Ideas and happiness from books. How Lampedusa would have enjoyed The New York Society Library!

The Board is happy to welcome three new members, elected at the Annual Meeting in April. John K. Howat is the former curator of the American Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and author of several of its notable exhibition catalogs. Linn Cary Mehta is an associate professor of comparative literature at Barnard College. She has studied in Berlin, Lima and Paris and also taught at Vassar and Yale. Daniel M. Rossner, a partner with Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood LLP, also holds a degree in philosophy and serves on our Book Committee and New York City Book Awards Committee.

As we welcome new faces, we are sad to say farewell to an old one: the passing of historian, author and longtime Board member Walter Lord in May was a great loss to the Library and to the cultural life of New York City. Walter is best known as the author of the classic A Night to Remember, as well as Day of Infamy, Peary to the Pole and other influential popular histories. At the Library he is equally well known for the wise and cheerful service he provided during his time on the Board from 1963 to 2002.

Respectfully submitted,
William J. Dean, Chairman

Report of the Librarian

Mark Piel
(June 2001 - May 2002)

The year 2001-2002 has been an occasion for reflection and reevaluation on all levels of American life. At the Library, too, we have devoted attention to assessing our collections, circulation, systems and technology. Our usefulness has been increased and there have been more of the events and programs members value.

The Collections

The Library's central asset is our excellent collection of books and periodicals, and these were methodically reviewed in the past year. Under the aegis of the Book Committee, consultants from inside and outside the Library have devoted time to examining our books in their topics of expertise. They are revitalizing the collections by recommending outdated volumes for repair or storage as well as suggesting new purchases. Professional outside consultants have included Dr. Nellie Thompson from the New York Psychoanalytic Institute, Dr. Gail Gerhart from the American University in Cairo, who advised us on titles to purchase in African studies, and Professor David Chandler from the Center of Southeastern Studies in Melbourne, who made recommendations in southeast Asian studies.

In making book selections the staff are rededicating themselves to meeting the book needs of everyone from beginning readers to scholars. The Library's 18-member Book Committee, chaired by Benita Eisler, meets monthly to suggest additions in a wide range of fields. As stated by a committee of trustees this year, we strive for the level of a strong undergraduate library.

The Book Committee also looked at periodicals, and we have added journals about political science, the arts and sciences, and New York City activities.

In September the Cataloging Department initiated a project to document the exact collection of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century newspapers, shelved in Stack 10 and in Closed Stack. Two cataloging department pages were assigned to go through the 338 bound volumes of The New York Evening Post from the first issue in 1801 through 1925. This arduous task has been completed. Sasha Stumacher had the assignment of also determining the holdings of thirty-one eighteenth-century newspaper titles held in the Rare Books stack. We will soon have a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet listing every issue we hold for each newspaper title, any gaps or missing issues in a given title, occurrences of misnumbering or misdating, and any significant physical defect, such as missing or torn pages. This information will appear in the catalog, attached to a bibliographic record that includes changes in title, publication history, and subject access. Eventually, the catalog will contain complete holdings of all our newspaper titles.

 
Systems and Technology

In addition to evaluating the books themselves, we have been giving attention to how those books are catalogued. Staff members from various departments have devoted significant time to research on library software systems in order to make an informed choice as we search for a better system. Committee members traveled to metropolitan-area libraries to witness actual use of several systems and to speak with key personnel to ascertain their likes and dislikes of systems and vendors. We are convinced that when the final selection is made, the Library will enjoy the benefits of a modern, multi-functional system with an emphasis on an easily accessible catalog. The Library plans to select a new, improved integrated system for cataloguing, circulation, acquisitions and serials within 2002. An eventual replacement for the current system has been discussed since the implementation of our current catalog and automated circulation. To aid this process, catalog staff member Paul Burley collected members' specific suggestions for improvements, leading a Focus Group in January. Most of these participants found the present system counterintuitive and not as informative as the card catalog. Catalog users would prefer to have mouse compatibility, standard onscreen options with minimized jargon, a clearer visual design with dark text on a light background, a larger font size, and a citation format option for researchers, among other qualities. The focus group gave positive reviews to demonstrated alternative systems, and their reactions will help determine the final choice.

The Library's website, www.nysoclib.org, was expanded to include the Annual Report, some Book Committee recommendations, and a list of books for understanding the events of September 11, 2001. A new section from trustee Christopher Gray displays photographs of the John Shillito Rogers house (the Library building under its original owners, from 1917 to 1937) and includes "A Guide to Researching the History of a New York City Building."

The Systems Department staff expanded their interaction with members not only through high tech but also with new technology workshops. Classes offered for the first time this year included a course on finding medical information on the Internet and one on creating a web page. Participant reviews of the workshops said "Would that all computer info were as good - terse - straightforward," "a superbly knowledgeable presentation," "extremely useful... very clear."

As more members are introduced to the resources for finding information, we add to our available paper and electronic reference books. Titles acquired in 2001-02 include The Penguin Dictionary of Critical Theory, The Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, and the Deutsches Universal Worterbuch. Online and available through the Library's website, we now boast the Oxford English Dictionary, the Oxford Reference Online, the American National Biography, and FirstSearch.

 
Books Acquired and Circulated

Acquisitions Librarian Steve McGuirl joined the Library staff in the fall of 2001 and has provided titles suggested by members, committees and staff. During the year we acquired 4,775 titles from combined gifts and purchases. As much as one-quarter of new and old books are now bought through Amazon Marketplace; savings are effected by purchasing from this and similar websites.

Circulation totals rose in 2001. The most circulated category was fiction, with about 12,000 charges. History and biography together approximated that total. The impressive breadth and depth of our members' reading interests has also increased interlibrary loan: in 2001 we borrowed 161 items from 105 libraries.

Members usually find books through our catalog, with three-quarters of its use occurring in the Reference Room. Three hundred members are now registered for offsite access to the catalog. Currently about 5,000 searches are performed per month, or about 200 per day.

 
Rare Books

One of the benefits of collection evaluation is the surprising discovery of rare books. Two works of poetry of some interest were recently catalogued by Arevig Caprielian. The first is a collection of Poetical Works by John Trumbull, published in 1820. Trumbull was a leader of the "Hartford Wits," and his poem "The Progress of Dulness," included in this collection, is a satirical piece on Yale University which elicited vicious reviews on its first appearance. The other find, Percy Bysshe Shelley's Queen Mab, is a polemic against established religion, political tyranny, and the institutionalized confines of marriage. Our early printing is Shelley's own edition, inscribed as printed by "P.B. Shelley, 23 Chapel Street 6." Later the book appeared in a more common pirated edition by William Clark of Cheapside.

 
Exhibitions

Rare and interesting items from our holdings are exhibited on the second floor landing. An exhibition from three Special Collections opened in October with a catalog written by Harriet Shapiro.

John Winthrop the younger (1607-1676) was the first governor of Connecticut, a physician, and a member of the Royal Society from its establishment in 1660. His scientific library became the largest in the colonies, with his descendants distributing the contents to Harvard, Yale, New York Hospital and this Library. Works exhibited from the Winthrop Collection were by Johannes Kepler, Robert Fludd and Paracelsus.

The John Cleve Green Collection is named for a 19th-century railroad entrepreneur and philanthropist. The Green alcove, originally created in his memory for our earlier Library site, is now off the twelfth stack floor. Income from his bequest continues to buy books. Items shown from this collection were art books by Max Beerbohm, Frans Masereel, and a first edition of the Journal de EugÈne Delacroix.

A selection from the James Hammond Collection offered much-read gothic novels from the nineteenth-century merchant's in-store library in Newport, Rhode Island. Among the authors shown were Ann Radcliffe, Charles Brockden Brown, and Matthew "Monk" Lewis. This collection came to us through Robert Lenox Kennedy, a nephew of James Lenox, one of the founders of the New York Public Library.

 
Events and Outreach

The 2001-2002 season was a fruitful one for programs. Speakers included scholar Lionel Casson on libraries of the ancient world, director and playwright Gayden Wren on the enduring appeal of Gilbert and Sullivan, Andrew Solomon on the "noonday demon" of depression, and Ved Mehta with Linn Cary Mehta on his life and loves. Engaging presentations with slides were given by Gerard Piel on scientific discovery in the twentieth century and by ornithologist Paul Kerlinger on bird encounters in New York City. The Author Series welcomed Wendy Wasserstein discussing her recent essays and Elizabeth Barlow Rogers on the history of landscape design.

Literary Conversations and Book Discussions addressed a variety of classic and contemporary writers. Andrew Delbanco shared insights on "Bartleby the Scrivener" and other works of Herman Melville in honor of the sesquicentennial of Moby-Dick's publication, while Daniel Hoffman, author of Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe, examined that author's stories and poetry. Ellen Feldman led a reading group on contemporary fiction, and Meg Wolitzer concentrated on the short stories of J.D. Salinger and others; Brenda Wineapple discussed the biographer's craft. Anthony Gronowicz led discussion of the history of third parties in the United States with a mixture of primary and secondary sources.

Project Cicero had a second successful year of redirecting children's books to places in need. The book drive collected over one hundred thousand books from schools and drop-off points in all five boroughs and redistributed them to teachers in almost one hundred underserved schools. The project was covered by The New York Daily News, The New York Post, and The New York Times.

 
The New York City Book Awards

The seventh annual New York City Book Awards reception was held in May, with authors, publishers, and Library members attending. Awards for history went to Unearthing Gotham: the archaeology of New York City by Anne-Marie E. Cantwell and Diana diZerega Wall and to Five Points: the 19th-century New York City neighborhood that invented tap dancing, stole elections, and became the world's most notorious slum by Tyler Anbinder. An award for best children's book was given to Lookin' For Bird in the Big City by Robert Burleigh, with illustrations by Marek Los. The Book Awards Committee was chaired by Constance Rogers Roosevelt.

 
Children's Library

The Children's Library continues to expand both its collection and its offerings of events for children from 1Ω to 15 years. New books and new editions of classics continue to appear on the shelves. Approximately 200 families receive the monthly children's calendar, with an average of 100 children regularly registering for programs.

Special events for children and adults were very popular this year, with The Princess Diaries author Meg Cabot and The Castle In the Attic author Elizabeth Winthrop sharing their secrets in the fall. "I always tell the kids that by the time you are twelve years old, you'll have all the memories you need to write a hundred books," said Winthrop. The spring saw history author/illustrators Susan Buckley and Elspeth Leacock teaching parents and children to tell their families' stories. Other notable children's events involved poet Dave Johnson, author and illustrator Robert Quackenbush, puppeteer Ellen van Wees, and marine life expert Gary Holliday.

 
Memberships

Another conclusion we reached in self-evaluation was that the rising number of memberships indicated that we are in tune with our members' needs. In January 2002 the Library had 3,272 memberships, an increase of 97 over the previous January, and over the previous record membership. Word of mouth seems to be an important cause of new memberships. Many say they are joining to make use of the study rooms or the children's programs.

 
Staff Activities

Staff members added to their knowledge and professional relationships. Paul Burley was at the seventeenth annual Computers in Library Conference in Washington D.C., where library automation, digital policy, and e-books were discussed. Arevig Caprielian, Rare Books Cataloger, attended the Rare Books and Manuscripts pre-conference at the American Library Association Annual Conference. The main topics were field problems and solutions and bibliographic standards for rare books. I made a presentation at the annual meeting of The Membership Library Group held at Tryon, North Carolina, where each library's accomplishments and challenges during the past year were reviewed. Weeding and collection development policies were also shared.

 
Conclusion

For all the Library staff who undertake a range of functions in a spirit of enterprise and cooperation, I am most appreciative, as I am for the Trustees' leadership and support.

Respectfully submitted,
Mark Piel, Librarian

Report of the Treasurer

James Q. Griffin
(January - December 2001)

The basic financial policies governing the Library are: a balanced budget, a four and one half percent spending rule from endowment funds (based on the average of the prior three years), a fairly compensated staff and our building properly maintained. If all of these occur, the institution is thought to be in financial equilibrium.

Over the past decade we clearly have been in equilibrium as we have been last year. Our objective is to stay that way.

Respectfully submitted,
James Q. Griffin, Treasurer

Statement of Revenue and Expenses, Unrestricted Net Assets
December 31, 2001 with comparative totals for 2000

Note: This statement includes unrestricted revenue and expenses only. All other funds are accounted for separately. Fully audited financial statements are available at the library. The approximate market value of investments on December 31, 2001 was $26,529,000.