Conversation so far:
What caused controversies for the New York Public Library?
The consolidations and changes in collections have promoted debate and controversy since 2004 when David Ferriero was named the Andrew W. Mellon Director and Chief Executive of the Research Libraries
What were some of the innovations to the New York Public Library?
In 2004 NYPL announced participation in the Google Books Library Project, which was criticized.
What was the New York Public Library's role in the Google Books Library Project?
By agreement between Google and NYPL and other libraries, selected collections of public domain books would be scanned in their entirety and made available online for free to the public

Question: What year did they decide they were going to start this collection?
Self-contained rewrite: What year did the New York Public Library decide they were going to start this collection?