Talk:Mercantile Library Company (Philadelphia)

Did you know nomination

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• ... that Philadelphia's Mercantile Library moved to three different locations over the course of its 168-year existence?

• Source: No single source but can be connected from here and here

• ALT1: ... that the Mercantile Library was originally founded as a subscription library to serve merchants in Philadelphia? Source: "It was established in 1821, and it was originally intended to serve primarily merchants and merchants’ clerks. However, its membership eventually expanded beyond the mercantile industry, and it became a popular library among the general public."
• ALT2: ... that after after operating for 168 years and moving to three buildings, the Mercantile Library in Philadelphia was closed due to concerns of asbestos? Source: "The building was closed in 1989 due to concerns over asbestos and has sat vacant for twenty-six years."
• ALT3: ... that the Mercantile Library's Modern building was only added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places a year after it was closed and abandoned? Source: "The building maintained a minimalist allure years after its closure in 1989. It was placed under the legal protection of the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 1990 ..."
• Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Utter (horse)

5x expanded by AdoTang (talk). Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 10 past nominations.

AdoTang (talk) 04:58, 17 May 2024 (UTC).

• @AdoTang: Hi, I'll be reviewing this.

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Cited: Interesting:

QPQ: Done.

Overall: Article properly expanded, no copy vio. Sources used appear reliable. I've done some minor copy edits. ALT0 is rather uninteresting and dull, ALT1 in the hook it is mentioned as "subscription library" and this term has been used in the lead as well, but with no citation although the fact is cited later on in the History section. But as DYK hook rules suggest, the terms used in the hook should be cited in the article somewhat as is. Currently, the cited description in the history section does not mention the word subscription, and the sources do not mention it directly, which is fine here as we can calibrate that easily from the stated info. But it'd be better if you made a mention of that word in that section as well. ALT2 is the most interesting of the bunch. However, it needs a bit of rewording. The source cited mention "due to concerns over Asbestos" but the hooks states directly "due to asbestos". This should be reworded. Moving to ALT3, it feels rather mundane. Ping me once you've made the adjustments. Regards. X (talk) 02:50, 18 May 2024 (UTC)

• @Xoak: I've decided to lean into ALT2 and ALT3. Reworded ALT2 as you suggested, and clarified what I was going for with ALT3 (the interest part was that it was only added after it was closed). Half-considering adding an ALT4 about how the Modern building was the first such building to be added to the Register, but I'm banking mainly on ALT2, which I agree is the most interesting. I was also thinking of adding another hook about how the 1877 fire originated from Fox's American Theatre considering it was in DYK recently, but I can't find a source that clearly states the connection and I doubt it would be particularly interesting to anyone except Philadelphia architectural historians. AdoTang (talk) 16:38, 19 May 2024 (UTC)

Approving with strong preference for ALT2.X (talk) 17:29, 19 May 2024 (UTC)