The New York Public Library agreed to temporarily shelve its controversial plans to demolish century-old steel book stacks at the main branch during a court proceeding Tuesday.
The library will wait until Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Paul Wooten decides whether to halt the $300 million renovation of the Fifth Avenue building while a lawsuit against the institution plays out.
Judge Wooten promised a decision “very soon.”
Five prominent scholars and preservationists sued the library in July claiming the removal of 3 million noncirculating materials from seven levels of Carnegie steel shelves called “the stacks” would hamper their research.
The renovation would replace the outdated stacks by moving the books offsite and transforming the main branch into a wider-use circulating library.
At Tuesday’s preliminary hearing Bloomberg administration attorney Kimberly Ong announced that the project would not be subject to a lengthy environmental review.
The library’s attorney, Richard Leland, also told the judge that he is working with the state to obtain necessary approvals.
The academics’ attorney, Michael Hiller, said the books were hauled away in March “under the cloak of darkness” to a New Jersey storage facility and the accused the library of hatching the renovation plans in secret.