A tale of two libraries and a revolution

A tale of two libraries and a revolution
This is a tale of two libraries and how they’re being transformed. One of them is our own Firestone: the Gothic hull with its distinctive interior decorative scheme, half “Mad Men,” half World War II submarine; its carrels where seniors used to confine themselves like the hermits of the ancient Syrian desert; and its lower floors, the caverns measureless to man, where a German friend, looking a little desperate, said to me,“Tony, this library is not user-friendly,” and disappeared down dark rows of books, never to be seen again (I think he may still be down there).