Donnell Library will close at the end of this week

Entrance to the Donnell Library

The New York Times is reporting that the Donnell Library branch (part of the NYPL) is closing at the end of this week.

The Donnell Library branch is special to me because it was the library that I went to first when I had to do research for various topics during middle school and high school (and some college too). While there was always the bigger Mid-Manhattan Library branch nearby, the Donnell Library was always just a bit more relaxed to be in for several hours at a time.

After 52 years as one of the most heavily used branches of the New York Public Library system, the Donnell Library Center on West 53rd Street will mostly close at the end of this week. A small circulating collection will remain open, in the basement, through the end of August. Then the building will be razed to make way for an 11-story hotel. When the $220 million hotel opens, sometime around 2011, a new Donnell will occupy part of the first floor and an underground area, coexisting with hotel guests paying $750 to $2,000 per night for a room.

The move will relocate and distribute the Donnell Library collection to various branches within the New York Public Library system, which really sucks because suddenly all of the material that you might want/need is all over the city.

At least one Flickr user has some photos of the empty bookshelves lining the inside.

Man, that’s just sad. :(