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Catherine C. Marron Succeeds Samuel C. Butler as Chairman of The New York Public Library Additional Hours of Operation Begin in December Under NYPL's New Leadership $30 Million in Major Gifts from Robert W. Wilson and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Announced
"After serving on the Board of Trustees for more than 10 years, Catie has a profound understanding of the Library's workings and the needs of its users, as well as the communities the Library serves," said Mr. Butler. "She has been an active member of a number of committees - most recently chairing the Executive Committee and the Branch Libraries Steering Committee for the Emergency Campaign. This is a time of new vision and change for the Library. New leadership in many areas is helping to drive the Library forward, and I think I speak for the full Board in expressing great confidence in Catie's chairmanship." Catherine Marron's appointment follows three recent senior staff appointments made at the Library effective this fall. David S. Ferriero - formerly the Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke University - was appointed the Andrew W. Mellon Director and Chief Executive of The Research Libraries. Susan Kent, former City Librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library, took over as Director and Chief Executive of The Branch Libraries. David G. Offensend, co-founder of the investment firm Evercore Partners, was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer. New Initiatives Under Marron's and Library President Paul LeClerc's stewardship, the NYPL senior management team is in the very early stages of developing a plan to enable NYPL to exploit advanced technology as a highly efficient means of transferring information. Today, a world-class library maintains its preeminence by not only embracing the transformative power of information technology; it also continues to provide traditional services to readers in its reading rooms and through its public programs. Among the Library's highest priorities is to expand hours of service. Beginning December 5, the Library will increase hours at 39 of its 85 branch libraries resulting in an additional 69 hours of public service a week. For the first time since 1970, the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, located at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, will be open on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., with service in the General Research Divisions, the exhibition galleries, and the Library Shop. [Please note that this Library will be closed December 12, December 26 and January 2.] If there are no mid-year budget adjustments by the City, the Library will begin adding a sixth day of public service at fourteen additional branches over the winter. Hours of public service will also be added to the St. George Library Center on Staten Island and the Donnell Library Center in Manhattan. More on the expanded library hours. Indicating its confidence in the Library's initiatives and leadership, philanthropist Robert W. Wilson announced his intention to provide $25 million over five years - $8 million for processing and preserving its performing arts collections, and another $17 million for acquisitions, preservation, and technology throughout the Research Libraries. Mr. Wilson has been a Library donor since 1966, and since that time, has given a total of $39 million to The New York Public Library. His latest commitment of $25 million is the largest single gift in the Library's history and the Library's Trustees and staff are deeply appreciative of his truly exceptional generosity. At the same time, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has granted an extraordinary $5 million to the Research Libraries to protect core programs, including acquisitions, preservation, and technology during this period of restructuring. Since 1969, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has given the Library $29 million. More on these grants. "These are exciting times for the Library, which has come out of a trying economic climate not only with a greater sense of purpose and direction, but with a roadmap for the future," said Marron. "It is a privilege to work in partnership with the Library's leadership to effect changes that will continue to make the Library a model for service the world over." Catherine C. Marron Library President Paul LeClerc said, "Like her remarkable predecessors Marshall Rose, Elizabeth Rohatyn, and Sam Butler, Catie Marron is dedicated to New York City's renowned Library and has been an unusually creative and effective advocate. With Catie's stewardship, we will continue to build our magisterial collections, to refurbish and renovate our facilities, and to maintain our historic mission of providing free access to our resources for readers, who now can be found all over the world thanks to information technologies." As Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Marron plans to concentrate on implementing Library restructuring and expanding service. "It's important to make the Library as friendly and as easy to use as possible through technology and access to collections," Marron said, and also to "reach further into communities, to work more closely with students, and to make the library a deeper part of the educational fabric" of the city. "We need to help people get to the resources that will help them fulfill their dreams." Facilities - particularly the proposed renovation of the Mid-Manhattan Library and the exterior of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library - will also take priority. "Our physical structures should be equivalent to the collections and services we offer," said Marron. Marron began her career as an investment banker at both Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers. After her marriage, she joined Condé Nast Publications, becoming Senior Features Editor of Vogue , and has continued serving as Contributing Editor since the birth of her children. She was an economics major at Wellesley College. An avowed "lover of the written word," Catie Marron cultivated her passion early, routinely "sneaking books under the covers" as a child so that she could read after hours. "I particularly loved The Secret Garden and To Kill a Mockingbird ," she said, and now takes pleasure in introducing such classics to her two young children. An active Trustee and Vice-Chairman of Thirteen/WNET Board, Marron has also devoted herself to a number of other organizations, including the Harlem Children's Zone, The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the Center for Strategic & International Studies, where she served on the Task Force on HIV/AIDS Advisory Panel. Samuel C. Butler Mr. Butler became a Trustee of the Library in 1979 at the invitation of former Chairman Andrew Heiskell, and was an especially active member of the Board. He served on many Library committees, including the Lawyers for the Library Committee, which he launched and chaired and which has raised substantial funding for Library operations. He also launched the annual Corporate Dinner, another important source of income for the Library. Under Mr. Butler's leadership as Chairman, the Emergency Campaign for the Library was developed and launched in 2003, in response to major government funding cuts. The three-year Campaign made major strides in raising private funding to sustain essential collections, programs, and services of the Library. In addition to the Digital Library Program, important initiatives at the Library during Mr. Butler's Chairmanship included many capital projects. These included an offsite storage facility for research collections; renovations of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, and several of the Branch Libraries; and work begun to build a new Bronx Borough Library Center. His appointment as Library Chairman came shortly before he stepped down as the presiding partner at the eminent law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, having served in that capacity from 1980 through 1999. He began his legal career as a clerk to Justice Sherman Minton of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954, serving in the United States Army shortly thereafter and then joining Cravath in 1956. He served as the firm's chief executive officer longer than any other partner, with the exception of Paul D. Cravath. "I have been involved with many educational and cultural organizations, but the last five years at the Library have been the best of my life," said Mr. Butler. "What the branches do to help the public and the research libraries do for scholars is remarkable, and it is great to be a part of keeping the Library strong. I think we can look forward to a wonderful future with Paul LeClerc's continued leadership, as well as the collective expertise of our new appointments. In turning over the reins to our new Chairman, Catie Marron, I am confident the Library is in the best possible hands." The New York Public Library has an annual operating budget of $285 million and an endowment of $515 million. The Board comprises 48 Trustees and 11 Life Trustees who meet as a whole four times a year. NYPL operates 85 neighborhood branches in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, and four major research centers in Manhattan that together provide free and democratic access to information on a scale unmatched by any other institution in the world, serving nearly 14 million patrons on site a year. In addition, some 13 million users from 243 countries visit the Library over the web annually. ### Contact: Nancy Donner or Caroline Oyama, 212.221.7676. Robert W. Wilson and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grants
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November 17, 2004, New York City -- The Board of Trustees of The New York Public Library (NYPL) announced that, effective today, Catherine C. Marron will succeed Samuel C. Butler as Chairman of the Library's Board of Trustees. Mrs. Marron's appointment by the Board caps a succession of appointments in key leadership positions made by Library President Paul LeClerc, signaling a new era of service and a restructuring of operations.