157-650: The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (commonly known as the Main Branch , the 42nd Street Library , or just the New York Public Library ) is the flagship building in the New York Public Library system in the Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City . The branch, one of four research libraries in the library system, has nine divisions. Four stories of the structure are open to
314-526: A New York City Landmark in 1967. At the behest of Joseph Cogswell , John Jacob Astor placed a codicil in his will to bequeath $ 400,000 (equivalent of $ 14.1 million in 2023) for the creation of a public library. After Astor's death in 1848, the resulting board of trustees executed the will's conditions and constructed the Astor Library in 1854 in the East Village . The library created
471-508: A single-member district . The New York Constitution allows the number of Senate seats to vary; as of 2014 , the Senate had 63 seats. The Assembly is headed by the speaker , while the Senate is headed by the president, a post held ex officio by the State lieutenant governor . the lieutenant governor, as president of the Senate, has only a tie-breaking " casting vote ". More often, the Senate
628-603: A Second Language (ESL) classes. The two online catalogs, LEO (which searches the circulating collections) and CATNYP (which searches the research collections) allow users to search the library's holdings of books, journals and other materials. The LEO system allows cardholders to request books from any branch and have them delivered to any branch. The NYPL gives cardholders free access from home to thousands of current and historical magazines, newspapers, journals and reference books in subscription databases, including EBSCOhost , which contains full text of major magazines; full text of
785-530: A bond measure of $ 500,000 in May 1899. The next month, contractor Eugene Lentilhon started excavating the Croton Reservoir, and workers began digging through the reservoir's 25-foot-thick (7.6 m) wall. After spending seven weeks tunneling through the wall, Lentilhon determined that the floor of the reservoir could only be demolished using dynamite. Work on the foundation commenced in May 1900, and much of
942-563: A box of artifacts from the library and the city. The architects awarded the contract for the library's stacks to Snead & Company ; for drainage and plumbing to M. J. O'Brien; for interior finishes to the John Peirce Company; and for electric equipment to the Lord Electric Company. Work progressed gradually on the library: the basement was completed by 1903, and the first floor by 1904. However, exterior work
1099-669: A combined 350,000 items after the merger, which was relatively small compared to other library systems at the time. As a point of civic pride, the New York Public Library's founders wanted an imposing main branch. While the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art 's Fifth Avenue branch were both located on prominent sites facing Central Park in Manhattan , there
1256-617: A contract with the City of New York to transfer his donation to the city in order to enable it to justify purchasing the land for building the branch libraries. The NYPL Board of trustees hired consultants for the planning, and accepted their recommendation that a limited number of architectural firms be hired to build the Carnegie libraries; this would ensure uniformity of appearance and minimize cost. The trustees hired McKim, Mead & White , Carrère and Hastings , and Walter Cook to design all
1413-582: A floor area of 42,220 square feet (3,922 m). Opened in 2002, the South Court structure was the first permanent above-ground addition to the Main Branch since its opening. The pop-up reading room in Bryant Park was re-established in summer 2003. The "room" contained 700 books and 300 periodicals. By 2004, streaks were already blackening the white marble and pollution and moisture were corroding
1570-459: A forecourt for the library, but both plans were rejected. The New York City Board of Estimate approved Carrère and Hastings's plans for the library in December 1897. Construction was delayed by the objections of mayor Robert Anderson Van Wyck , who expressed concerns that the city's finances were unstable. As a result, the planned library was delayed for a year. The Board of Estimate authorized
1727-513: A jury composed of library trustees and architects. The jury relaxed the requirement that the proposals adhere to a specific floor plan after McKim, Mead & White , which had received the most votes from the jury, nearly withdrew from the competition. All of the finalist designs were in the Beaux-Arts style. Ultimately, in November 1897, the relatively unknown firm of Carrère and Hastings
SECTION 10
#17327654770711884-499: A letter of protest against the plan, and Princeton history professor Anthony Grafton wrote that the proposal would inconvenience many readers. After a six-year battle and two public interest lawsuits, the Central Library Plan was abandoned in May 2014. An $ 8 million gift from Abby and Howard Milstein helped fund the renovation of the second level of stacks beneath Bryant Park. The writer Scott Sherman said that, "in
2041-405: A library with citywide reach was required, and upon his death in 1886, he bequeathed the bulk of his fortune—about $ 2.4 million (equivalent of $ 81 million in 2023)—to "establish and maintain a free library and reading room in the city of New York". This money would sit untouched in a trust for several years, until John Bigelow , a New York attorney, and Andrew Haswell Green , both trustees of
2198-498: A marble attic with six 11-foot-high (3.4 m) allegorical sculptures designed by Paul Wayland Bartlett ; the figures flank three carved plaques, one each for the Astor, Lenox, and Tilden foundations. The arches contain barrel vaults with the faces of the classical deities Juno, Minerva, and Mercury on their keystones . The faces initially all depicted Minerva, but Carrere and Hastings hired sculptor Francis Tonetti-Dozzi in 1909 to redo
2355-490: A marble balustrade. According to architecture critic Henry Hope Reed Jr. , the balustrade is similar to that at Versailles 's Grand Trianon . The bays are separated by Corinthian columns. The alcoves on the Fifth Avenue facade contained figures sculpted by Frederic MacMonnies , representing beauty and wisdom. These figures sit above small fountains inside the alcoves. They were shut off from 1942 and 1957, and again from
2512-557: A new entrance at 40th Street, create the Center for Research and Learning for high-school and college students, add elevator banks, and expand space for exhibitions and researchers. At the time of approval, $ 308 million of funds had been raised, and construction was expected to be completed in 2021. The renovations began in July 2018 with the start of construction on the Lenox and Astor Room,
2669-620: A number surpassed only by the Library of Congress and the British Library . Telephone Reference, known as ASK NYPL, answers 100,000 questions per year, by phone and online, as well as in The New York Times . The Library website provides access to the library's catalogs, online collections and subscription databases. It also has information about the library's free events, exhibitions, computer classes and English as
2826-529: A policy of selling its cultural collections abroad for gold. Related collections include a significant number of important works by Russian photographers, and photographs related to the House of Romanov and Russia expert George Kennan . The military drew extensively from the library's map and book collections in the world wars, including hiring its staff. For example, the Map Division's chief Walter Ristow
2983-779: A public lending library through its branch libraries in the Bronx , Manhattan , and Staten Island , including the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (formerly: Mid-Manhattan Library), the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library , the circulating collections of the Science, Industry and Business Library , and the circulating collections of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts . The branch libraries comprise
3140-820: A researcher for the Ripley's Believe It or Not! book series, perused an estimated 7,000 books annually from 1923 to 1975. Other patrons included First Lady of the United States Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis ; writers Alfred Kazin , Norman Mailer , Frank McCourt , John Updike , Cecil Beaton , Isaac Bashevis Singer , and E. L. Doctorow ; actors Helen Hayes , Marlene Dietrich , Lillian Gish , Diana Rigg , and Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco; playwright Somerset Maugham ; film producer Francis Ford Coppola ; journalists Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and Tom Wolfe ; and boxer Joe Frazier . The Main Branch
3297-694: A scholar's center, on the second floor. The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the 40th Street entrance with minor modifications in March 2019. That August, the NYPL announced that the lions outside the Main Branch's front entrance would be restored in September and October at a cost of $ 250,000. The Center for Research in the Humanities opened on the second floor in October 2019. The NYPL began presenting
SECTION 20
#17327654770713454-481: A semi-finalist round and six went on to a finalist round. About a third of the designs, 29 in total, followed the same design principles outlined in Billings's original sketch. Each of the semifinalist designs were required to include specific architectural features, including limestone walls; a central delivery desk; reading rooms with large windows; and stacks illuminated by sunlight. The six finalists were selected by
3611-427: A single stone lion as its logo. Their original names, "Leo Astor" and "Leo Lenox" (in honor of the library's founders) were transformed into Lord Astor and Lady Lenox (although both lions are male), and in the 1930s they were nicknamed "Patience" and "Fortitude" by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia , who chose the names because he felt that the citizens of New York would need to possess these qualities to see themselves through
3768-584: A storage annex in Bryant Park to the west. The expansion was planned to cost $ 2 million, but was never built. After Hastings died in 1929, it was revealed that his will contained $ 100,000 for modifications to the facade, with which he had been dissatisfied. A theater collection was installed in the Main Reading Room in 1933. Two years later, the Bryant Park Open-Air Reading Room was established, operating during
3925-600: A whole, the three library systems in the city have 209 branches with 63 million items in their collections. New York State Legislature Minority caucus Minority caucus The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York : the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly . The Constitution of New York does not designate an official term for
4082-554: Is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress and the fourth-largest public library in the world . It is a private, non-governmental, independently managed, nonprofit corporation operating with both private and public financing. The library has branches in
4239-585: Is a database of over 900,000 images digitized from the library's collections. The Digital Collections was named one of Time Magazine ' s 50 Coolest Websites of 2005 and Best Research Site of 2006 by an international panel of museum professionals. The Photographers' Identities Catalog (PIC ) is an experimental online service of the Photography Collection in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building . Other databases available only from within
4396-757: Is based out of the Rose Main Reading Room and the Bill Blass Public Catalog Room. The division contains 43 million items in more than 430 languages. The Irma and Paul Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History and Genealogy houses one of the largest publicly available genealogical collections in North America. Though the division contains many New York City-related documents, it also contains documents collected from towns, cities, counties, and states across
4553-422: Is known for having a welcoming environment when its comes to people of diverse backgrounds. The library offers free work and life skills classes. These are offered in conjunction with volunteers and partnerships at the library. In addition, the library offers non-English speakers materials and coaching for them to acclimate to the U.S. For these non-English speakers, the library offers free ESOL classes. An initiative
4710-660: Is located on the east side of the block bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east, 40th Street on the south, Sixth Avenue on the west, and 42nd Street on the north. The north end of the building sits above entrances to the Fifth Avenue station of the New York City Subway , serving the 7 and <7> trains. The station was built as part of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company's Flushing Line , and
4867-565: Is presided over by the temporary president, or by a senator of the majority leader's choosing. The assembly speaker and Senate majority leader control the assignment of committees and leadership positions, along with control of the agenda in their chambers. The two are considered powerful statewide leaders and along with the governor of New York control most of the agenda of state business in New York. The Legislative Bill Drafting Commission (LBDC) aids in drafting legislation; advises as to
New York Public Library Main Branch - Misplaced Pages Continue
5024-484: Is reached by a grand marble stairway extending west from the terrace at 41st Street. Two lion sculptures, made of Tennessee marble and sculpted by the Piccirilli Brothers based on a design by Edward Clark Potter , flank the stairway from 41st Street. According to one legend, the lions flank the steps so patrons could read "between the lions". They are a trademark of the New York Public Library, which uses
5181-520: Is still the heart of the NYPL's research library system. The SIBL, with approximately two million volumes and 60,000 periodicals, is the nation's largest public library devoted solely to science and business. The NYPL's two other research libraries are the Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture , located at 135th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem , and the New York Public Library for
5338-787: The New York Times (1995–present), Gale's Ready Reference Shelf which includes the Encyclopedia of Associations and periodical indexes, Books in Print ; and Ulrich's Periodicals Directory . The New York Public Library also links to outside resources, such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics ' Occupational Outlook Handbook , and the CIA 's World Factbook . Databases are available for children, teenagers, and adults of all ages. The NYPL Digital Collections (formerly named Digital Gallery)
5495-523: The Beaux-Arts style, and the structure opened on May 23, 1911. It was the largest marble structure up to that time in the United States. The two stone lions guarding the entrance were sculpted by E.C. Potter and carved by the Piccirilli Brothers . Its main reading room was contemporaneously the largest of its kind in the world at 77 ft (23 m) wide by 295 ft (90 m) long, with 50-foot-high (15 m) ceilings. An expansion in
5652-660: The Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Public Library . According to the 2006 Mayor's Management Report, New York City's three public library systems had a total library circulation of 35 million: the NYPL and BPL (with 143 branches combined) had a circulation of 15 million , and the Queens system had a circulation of 20 million through its 62 branch libraries. Altogether the three library systems hosted 37 million visitors in 2006. Taken as
5809-467: The Croton Reservoir . John Shaw Billings , the first director of the library, created an initial design that became the basis of the new building containing a huge reading room on top of seven floors of book stacks, combined with a system that was designed to get books into the hands of library users as fast as possible. The architectural firm Carrère and Hastings constructed the structure in
5966-1121: The English Romanticism genre, created in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was donated by the estate of oil financier Carl Pforzheimer in 1986. According to the New York Public Library's website, the collection contains works from English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley ; Shelley's second wife Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and her family members, including William Godwin , Mary Wollstonecraft , and Claire Clairmont ; and other contemporaries including " Lord Byron , Teresa Guiccioli , Thomas Jefferson Hogg , Leigh Hunt , Thomas Love Peacock , Horace Smith , and Edward John Trelawny ". The Rare Book Division requires pre-registration for researchers before they are allowed to enter. The collection includes 800 incunable works published in Europe before 1501, Americana published before 1801, and American newspapers published before 1865, as well as over 20,000 broadsides , old atlases , and works about voyages. The division also contains rare Bibles , including
6123-509: The Great Depression . Patience is on the south side, to the left of the entrance stairway, and Fortitude on the north, to the right. The lions were restored in 1975 and in 2007–2011, and they were restored once again in late 2019. The Fifth Avenue pavilion consists of a portico with six Corinthian columns and three archways. The Corinthian columns are placed on pedestals with rosettes and Greek-fret molding. These columns support
6280-517: The Great Recession of 2008. In 2012, a Central Library Plan was announced; the plan included closing the nearby Mid-Manhattan Library and Science, Industry and Business Library and turning the Main Branch into a circulating library. Over a million books would have been stored in a New Jersey warehouse shared with Princeton University and Columbia University . The plan was controversial; academics, writers, architects and civic leaders signed
6437-892: The Hebrew language . The division, founded in 1897, contains documents and books from the Astor and Lenox Libraries; the Aguilar Free Library ; and the private collections of Leon Mandelstamm, Meyer Lehren, and Isaac Meyer. The division is named for the Dorot Foundation , who made a formal endowment for the Chief of Division in 1986. The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature contains rare books, first editions, and manuscripts in English and American literature. The collection includes over 35,000 works from 400 individual authors. The collection
New York Public Library Main Branch - Misplaced Pages Continue
6594-503: The Mid-Manhattan Library in 1970. During the 1970s, the New York Public Library as a whole experienced financial troubles, which were exacerbated by the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis . As a cost-cutting measure, in 1970, the library decided to close the Main Branch during Sundays and holidays. The library also closed the Main Branch's science and technology division in late 1971 to save money, but private funds allowed
6751-580: The Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, notable people's and entities' papers, publishing archives, social and economics collections, and papers about the New York Public Library's history. The division supplements similar divisions at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem , and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center . The Dorot Jewish Division contains documents about Jewish subjects and
6908-748: The National Library of Medicine ), Edwin H. Anderson , Harry M. Lydenberg , Franklin F. Hopper , Ralph A. Beals, and Edward Freehafer (1954–1970). They emphasized expertise, objectivity, and a very broad worldwide range of knowledge in acquiring, preserving, organizing, and making available to the general population nearly 12 million books and 26.5 million additional items. The directors in turn reported to an elite board of trustees, chiefly elderly, well-educated, philanthropic, predominantly Protestant, upper-class white men with commanding positions in American society. They saw their role as protecting
7065-746: The New York State Legislature incorporated the Lenox Library in 1870. The library was built on Fifth Avenue , between 70th and 71st Streets, in 1877. Bibliophile and philanthropist James Lenox donated a vast collection of his Americana , art works, manuscripts, and rare books, including the first Gutenberg Bible in the New World . At its inception, the library charged admission and did not permit physical access to any literary items. Former Governor of New York and presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden believed that
7222-480: The 1840s, New York launched the first great wave of civil procedure reform in the United States by enacting the Field Code . The Code inspired the enactment of similar codes in 26 other states, and gave birth to the term " code pleading " for the system of civil procedure it created. The first African-American elected to the legislature was Edward A. Johnson , a Republican, in 1917. The first women elected to
7379-507: The 1920s. It formerly contained a circulating library , though the circulating division of the Main Branch moved to the nearby Mid-Manhattan Library in 1970. Additional space for the library's stacks was constructed under adjacent Bryant Park in 1991, and the branch's Main Reading Room was restored in 1998. A major restoration from 2007 to 2011 was underwritten by a $ 100 million gift from businessman Stephen A. Schwarzman , for whom
7536-658: The 1970s and 1980s added storage space under Bryant Park , directly west of the library. The structure was given a major restoration from 2007 to 2011, underwritten by a $ 100 million gift from philanthropist Stephen A. Schwarzman , for whom the branch was subsequently renamed. Today, the branch's main reading room is equipped with computers with access to library collections and the Internet as well as docking facilities for laptops. A Fellows program makes reserved rooms available for writers and scholars, selected annually, and many have accomplished important research and writing at
7693-404: The 1980s to 2015. The outer ends of the facade are treated as end pavilions. Barnard designed pediments for the end pavilions, which represented the arts and history; they are slightly asymmetrical and resemble the pediment above the main entrance. The corner pavilions also contain rusticated quoins as well as stone piers . New York Public Library The New York Public Library ( NYPL )
7850-462: The 1990s, the New York Public Library decided to relocate that portion of the research collection devoted to science, technology, and business to a new location. The library purchased and adapted the former B. Altman & Company Building on 34th Street . In 1995, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the library, the $ 100 million Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL), designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates of Manhattan, opened to
8007-707: The 2018 elections, Democrats won control of the State Senate and increased their majority in the State Assembly. At the beginning of the 2019–2020 legislative session, the Senate Democratic Conference held 39 of the chamber's 63 seats and the Assembly Democratic Conference held 106 of the 150 seats in that chamber. The Senate Democratic Conference increased to 40 seats after Democratic senator Simcha Felder
SECTION 50
#17327654770718164-407: The Astor and Lenox Libraries. At the time, it was occupied by the obsolete Croton Reservoir , remnants of which still exist on the library floor. The library's trustees convinced mayor William L. Strong to give them the reservoir site, after they gave him studies showing that the size of New York City's library collection lagged behind those of many other cities. Dr. John Shaw Billings, who was named
8321-450: The Croton Reservoir had been excavated by 1901. In November 1900, work was hindered by a water main break that partly flooded the old reservoir. Norcross Brothers received the general contract, although this was initially controversial because the firm was not the lowest bidder. After a private ceremony to mark the start of construction was held in August 1902, a ceremonial cornerstone was laid on November 10, 1902. The cornerstone contained
8478-419: The Fifth Avenue entrance is flanked by a pair of stone lions that serve as the library's icon. The interior of the building contains the Main Reading Room, a space measuring 78 by 297 feet (24 by 91 m) with a 52-foot-high (16 m) ceiling; a Public Catalog Room; and various reading rooms, offices, and art exhibitions. The Main Branch became popular after its opening and saw four million annual visitors by
8635-404: The Main Branch continued to grow, and in 1961, the New York Public Library convened a group of six librarians to look for a new facility for the circulating department. The library bought the Arnold Constable & Company department store at 8 East 40th Street, at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 40th Street across from the Main Branch. The Main Branch's circulating collection was moved to
8792-467: The Main Branch occurred during the 1960s. The city government allocated money for the installation of fire sprinklers in the main branch's stacks in 1960. In 1964 contracts were awarded for the installation of a new floor level above the south corridor on the first floor, as well as for replacement of the skylights. By the mid-1960s, the branch contained 7 million volumes and had outgrown its 88 miles (142 km) of stacks. The circulating facilities at
8949-460: The Main Branch to install computers and other electronic devices. The Reading Room received new workstations, and the space was also redecorated to accommodate patrons' laptops. The bungalow in the Library's South Court was taken apart the same year. A four-story glass structure was erected on the site of the South Court, an enclosed courtyard on the Main Branch's south side, starting in the late 1990s. The structure cost $ 22.2 million and included
9106-409: The Main Branch was rejected. By late 1910, the library was nearly completed, and officials forecast an opening date of May 1911. Carrère died before the building was opened, and in March 1911, two thousand people viewed his coffin in the library's rotunda. On May 23, 1911, officials held a ceremony to open the main branch of the New York Public Library. U.S. president William Howard Taft presided over
9263-469: The Main Branch. In May 1897, the New York State Legislature passed a bill allowing the site of the Croton Reservoir to be used for a public library building. The Society of Beaux-Arts Architects hosted an architectural design competition for the library, with two rounds. The rules of the competition's first round were never published, but they were used as the basis for later design competitions. Entrants submitted 88 designs, of which 12 were selected for
9420-546: The Main Branch. Initially, the Main Branch was opened at 1 p.m. on Sundays and 9 a.m. on all other days, and it closed at 10 p.m. each day. This was to encourage patrons to use the new library. By 1926, the library was heavily patronized, with up to 1,000 people per hour requesting books. The library was most used between 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 3:30 to 5:50 p.m., and from October through May. The most highly requested books were those for economics and American and English literature, though during World War I geography books were
9577-549: The Mid-Manhattan Branch's collection while that building was closed for renovations. The Mid-Manhattan Branch's collection of pictures was also temporarily relocated to the Main Branch until the circulating library reopened in 2020. In November 2017, the New York Public Library board approved a $ 317 million master plan for the Main Branch, which would be the largest renovation in the branch's history. The plan, designed by architecture firms Mecanoo and Beyer Blinder Belle , would increase publicly available space by 20 percent, add
SECTION 60
#17327654770719734-436: The Mid-Manhattan and Donnell branches, the latter of which had already found a buyer. Nicolai Ouroussoff , former architecture critic for The New York Times , opined that Foster's selection was "one of a string of shrewd decisions by the library that should put our minds at ease". By 2010, while renovations on the Main Branch were ongoing, the New York Public Library had cut back its staff and budget in other branches following
9891-402: The NYPL charged a late fee of $ 0.25 per day per book; other types of items had different late fees, and seniors and disabled patrons paid lower late fees. The library system's president, Anthony Marx , indicated his intention to eliminate late fees after assuming the library's presidency in 2011. The NYPL stopped charging late fees on October 5, 2021. Existing debts have since been cleared from
10048-414: The NYPL is granted a charter from the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York and is registered with the New York State Education Department . The basic powers and duties of all library boards of trustees are defined in the Education Law and are subject to Part 90 of Title 8 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations . The NYPL's charter, as restated and granted in 1975, gives
10205-417: The NYPL represents 0.02% of the city's 2024 budget of $ 110 billion. Funding for Sunday service was restored in June 2024. In February 2013, the New York and Brooklyn public libraries announced that they would merge their technical services departments. The new department is called BookOps. The proposed merger anticipates a savings of $ 2 million for the Brooklyn Public Library and $ 1.5 million for
10362-417: The New York Public Library consisted of 4 research centers and 89 neighborhood branch libraries in the three boroughs served. All libraries in the NYPL system may be used free of charge by all visitors. As of 2019 , the research collections contain 46.8 million items (books, videotapes, maps, etc.), while the branch libraries contain 9.9 million items. Together the collections total nearly 53 million items,
10519-452: The New York Public Library. Although not currently part of the merger, it is expected that the Queens Public Library will eventually share some resources with the other city libraries. As of 2011, circulation in the New York Public Library systems and Brooklyn Public Library systems has increased by 59%. Located in Long Island City , BookOps was created as a way to save money while improving patrons service. The services of BookOps include
10676-513: The New York State Legislature, which is the highest paid state legislature in the country. Legislative elections are held in November of every even-numbered year. Both Assembly members and Senators serve two-year terms. In order to be a member of either house, one must be a citizen of the United States , a resident of the state of New York for at least five years, and a resident of the district for at least one year prior to election. The Assembly consists of 150 members; they are each chosen from
10833-422: The Performing Arts , located at Lincoln Center . In addition to their reference collections, the Library for the Performing Arts and the SIBL also have circulating components that are administered as ordinary branch libraries. The New York Public Library was not created by government statute. From its earliest days, the library was formed from a partnership of city government with private philanthropy. As of 2010,
10990-428: The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library's Treasures, the first-ever permanent exhibition of valuable objects in the library system's collections, at the building in late 2021. The entrance on 40th Street opened to the public in June 2023, and the rest of the renovation, which included a public plaza, a cafe, new restrooms, an elevator, and a visitor center, was completed the next month. In November 2023, while
11147-420: The Selection Team which "acquires, describes, prepares, and delivers new items for the circulating collections of Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) and New York Public Library, and for the general collections of NYPL's research libraries." Under the Selection Team are the Acquisitions Department, the Cataloging Department, The Collections Processing Unit, and the Logistics Department. Before this facility opened, all
11304-627: The Slavic and Baltic Division. A number of innovations in recent years have been criticized. In 2004 NYPL announced participation in the Google Books Library Project . By agreement between Google and major international libraries, selected collections of public domain books would be scanned in their entirety and made available online for free to the public. The negotiations between the two partners called for each to project guesses about ways that libraries are likely to expand in
11461-475: The Tilden fortune, came up with an idea to merge two of the city's largest libraries. Both the Astor and Lenox libraries were struggling financially. Although New York City already had numerous libraries in the 19th century, almost all of them were privately funded and many charged admission or usage fees (a notable exception was Cooper Union , which opened its free reading room to the public in 1859). Bigelow,
11618-725: The U.S., as well as genealogies from around the world. The division acquired the holdings of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society in 2008. The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division was created in 1898. It contains more than 20,000 atlases and 433,000 sheet maps, dating to as early as the 16th century. The collection includes maps on local, regional, national, and global scales as well as city maps , topographic maps , and maps in antiquarian and digitized formats. The Manuscripts and Archives Division comprises over 5,500 collections. These include, 700 cuneiform tablets, 160 illuminated manuscripts from
11775-497: The United States , are also available to anyone in the U.S. via the SimplyE app. In 2006, the library adopted a new strategy that merged branch and research libraries into "One NYPL". The organizational change developed a unified online catalog for all the collections, and one card to that could be used at both branch and research libraries. The 2009 website and online-catalog transition had some initial difficulties, but ultimately
11932-496: The aforementioned departments were housed in different locations with no accountability between them, and items sometimes taking up to two weeks to reach their intended destination. BookOps now has all departments in one building and in 2015 sorted almost eight million items. The building has numerous rooms, including a room dedicated to caring for damaged books. The consolidations and changes in collections have promoted continuing debate and controversy since 2004 when David Ferriero
12089-646: The amendment becomes valid if agreed to by the voters at a referendum . The legislature originated in the revolutionary New York Provincial Congress , assembled by rebels when the New York General Assembly would not send delegates to the Continental Congress . The New York State Legislature has had several corruption scandals during its existence. These include the Black Horse Cavalry and Canal Ring . In
12246-473: The boroughs of the Bronx , Manhattan , and Staten Island and affiliations with academic and professional libraries in the New York metropolitan area . The city's other two boroughs, Brooklyn and Queens , are not served by the New York Public Library system, but rather by their respective borough library systems: the Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Public Library . The branch libraries are open to
12403-477: The bottoms of each of Astor Hall's two staircases. In a later interview with The New York Times , Carrère stated that the library would contain "twenty-five or thirty different rooms", each with their own specialty; "eighty-three miles of books" in its stacks ; and a general reading room that could fit a thousand guests. During the design process, Hastings had wanted to shift the library building closer to Sixth Avenue, and he also proposed sinking 42nd Street to create
12560-602: The branch libraries. New York author Washington Irving was a close friend of Astor for decades and had helped the philanthropist design the Astor Library. Irving served as President of the library's Board of Trustees from 1848 until his death in 1859, shaping the library's collecting policies with his strong sensibility regarding European intellectual life. Subsequently, the library hired nationally prominent experts to guide its collections policies; they reported directly to directors John Shaw Billings (who also developed
12717-500: The branch was subsequently renamed. The branch underwent another expansion starting in 2018. The Main Branch has been featured in many television shows and films. The consolidation of the Astor and Lenox Libraries into the New York Public Library in 1895, along with a large bequest from Samuel J. Tilden and a donation of $ 5.2 million from Andrew Carnegie , allowed for the creation of an enormous library system. The libraries had
12874-441: The branch's operating hours. Vartan Gregorian took over as president of the New York Public Library in 1981. At the time, many of the Main Branch's interior spaces had been subdivided and extensively modified, with offices in many of the spaces. The main exhibition room had been turned into an accounting office; the reading room's furniture had metal brackets screwed onto them; and there were lights, wires, and ducts hung throughout
13031-652: The catalogues were integrated. NYPL's Community Oral History Project shares New York City's neighborhoods and diverse people by documenting history through collected stories. The Oral History Project includes people living in Greenwich Village, Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood, Times Square, Hell's Kitchen, Soho, Lower East Side, Chinatown, and Kips Bay as well as Transgender , Latino Americans, Veterans, and Disability Experience. The New York Public Library offers many services to its patrons. Some of these services include services for immigrants. New York City
13188-495: The ceiling, cleaning the windows, refinishing the wood, and removing partitions within the room. Workers also replaced desk lamps and installed energy-efficient window panes. The space was renamed the Rose Main Reading Room, after the children of a benefactor who had given $ 15 million toward the renovation. The Reading Room reopened on November 16, 1998. The same year, the New York State government allocated funding for
13345-514: The ceremony, whose 15,000 guests included governor John Alden Dix and mayor William Jay Gaynor . The public was invited the following day, May 24, and tens of thousands went to the Library's "jewel in the crown". The first item called for was Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded by Delia Bacon , although this was a publicity stunt, and the book was not in the Main Branch's collection at
13502-522: The city's Art Commission in January 1987, and construction on the stacks started in July 1988. The expansion required that Bryant Park be closed to the public and then excavated, but because the park had grown dilapidated over the years, the stack-expansion project was seen as an opportunity to rebuild the park. The library added more than 120,000 square feet (11,000 m) of storage space and 84 miles (135 km) of bookshelves under Bryant Park, doubling
13659-413: The city, with the requirement that they be operated and maintained by the City of New York. The Brooklyn and Queens public library systems, which predated the consolidation of New York City , eschewed the grants offered to them and did not join the NYPL system; they believed that they would not get treatment equal to the Manhattan and the Bronx counterparts. Later, in 1901, Carnegie formally signed
13816-468: The consolidation program, the NYPL moved various back-office operations to a new Library Services Center building in Long Island City. A former warehouse was renovated for this purpose for $ 50 million . In the basement, a new, $ 2.3 million book sorter uses bar codes on library items to sort them for delivery to 132 branch libraries. At two-thirds the length of a football field, the machine is
13973-569: The constitutionality, consistency or effect of proposed legislation; conducts research; and publishes and maintains the documents of the Legislature, such as the Laws of New York . The LBDC consists of two commissioners, the commissioner for administration and the commissioner for operations, each appointed jointly by the temporary president of the Senate and the speaker of the Assembly. In
14130-553: The digital imaging department (formerly at the Main Branch building) and the manuscripts and archives division, where the air is kept cooler; on the third, the Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division, with a staff of 10 (as of 2010) but designed for as many as 30 employees. The NYPL maintains a force of NYC special patrolmen, who provide security and protection to various libraries, and NYPL special investigators, who oversee security operations at
14287-544: The division to reopen in January 1972. The lions in front of the Main Branch's main entrance were restored in 1975. By the end of the decade, the Main Branch was in disrepair and the NYPL trustees were raising money for the research library's continued upkeep. The NYPL system was so short on funds that the research library was only open 43 hours a week until 1979, when Time Inc. and the Grace Krieble Delmas Foundation jointly donated $ 750,000 to extend
14444-569: The end, elected officials in New York City had to save the NYPL from its own trustees." In May 2014, one of the rosettes in the ceiling of the Rose Main Reading Room fell to the floor. The NYPL closed the Rose Main Reading Room and the Public Catalog Room for renovations. The $ 12 million restoration project included restoring the rosettes and supporting them with steel cables, as well as installing LED lamp fixtures. The NYPL commissioned EverGreene Architectural Arts to recreate
14601-494: The fifteen large windows in the Main Reading Room were blacked out, though they were later uncovered. In the following years, the Main Reading Room became neglected: broken lighting fixtures were not replaced, and the room's windows were never cleaned. Unlike during World War I, war-related books at the Main Branch did not become popular during World War II. A room for members of the United States Armed Forces
14758-432: The first Gutenberg Bible to be brought to the U.S., the first Native American language Bible, and the first Bible created in the U.S. In addition, it includes first editions and copies from notable writers, including William Shakespeare , copies of The Pilgrim's Progress printed before 1700, Voltaire 's entire work, and Walt Whitman 's personal copies of his own work. The division houses rare artifacts as well, such as
14915-540: The first book printed in North America and the first English-language book printed in the U.S. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs was created by a gift of the Wallach family in 1987. The collection includes over one million works of art as well as 700,000 monographs and periodicals . The New York Public Library's Main Branch measures 390 feet (120 m) on its north–south axis by 270 feet (82 m) on its west–east axis. The library
15072-496: The first director of the New York Public Library, had created an early sketch for a massive reading room on top of seven floors of book-stacks, combined with the fastest system for getting books into the hands of those who requested to read them. His design for the new library, though controversial for its time, formed the basis of the Main Branch. Once the Main Branch was opened, the Astor and Lenox Libraries were planned to close, and their functions were planned to be merged into that of
15229-406: The following year. Starting in 1910, around 75 miles (121 km) worth of shelves were installed to hold the collections that were designated for being housed there, with substantial room left for future acquisitions. It took one year to transfer and install the books from the Astor and Lenox Libraries. Late in the construction process, a proposal to install a municipal light plant in the basement of
15386-488: The future. According to the terms of the agreement, the data cannot be crawled or harvested by any other search engine; no downloading or redistribution is allowed. The partners and a wider community of research libraries can share the content. The sale of the separately endowed former Donnell Library in midtown provoked controversy. The elimination of Donnell was a result of the dissolution of children's, young adult and foreign language collections. The Donnell Media Center
15543-404: The general public and consist of circulating libraries . The New York Public Library also has four research libraries , which are also open to the general public. The library, officially chartered as The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations , was developed in the 19th century, founded from an amalgamation of grass-roots libraries and social libraries of bibliophiles and
15700-421: The increased demand for books, new shelves were installed in the stockrooms and the cellars by the 1920s to accommodate the expanded stacks. However, this still proved to be insufficient. The New York Public Library announced an expansion of the Main Branch in 1928. Thomas Hastings prepared plans for new wings near the north and south sides of the structure, which would extend eastward toward Fifth Avenue, as well as
15857-428: The interior. The interior and exterior were largely constructed simultaneously. The building's exterior was mostly done by the end of 1907. The pace of construction was generally sluggish; in 1906, an official for the New York Public Library stated that some of the exterior and most of the interior was not finished. Contractors started painting the main reading room and catalog room in 1908, and began installing furniture
16014-480: The largest of its kind in the world, according to library officials. Books located in one branch and requested from another go through the sorter, the use of which has cut waiting times by at least a day. Together with 14 library employees, the machine can sort 7,500 items an hour (or 125 a minute). On the first floor of the Library Services Center is an ordering and cataloging office; on the second,
16171-496: The legislature were Republican Ida Sammis and Democrat Mary Lilly , both in 1919. The first African-American woman elected to the legislature was Bessie A. Buchanan in 1955. Five assemblymen were expelled in 1920 for belonging to the Socialist Party . In 2008, when the U.S. Supreme Court reluctantly affirmed the constitutionality of a statute enacted by the New York legislature, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in
16328-399: The length of the stacks in the Main Branch. The space could accommodate 3.2 million books and a half-million reels of microfilm. The new stacks were connected to the Main Branch via a tunnel measuring 62 ft (19 m) or 120 ft (37 m) long. Once the underground facilities were completed, Bryant Park was completely rebuilt, with 2.5 or 6 feet (0.76 or 1.83 m) of earth between
16485-439: The library asked the city to take over responsibility for the Main Branch's circulating and children's libraries. As part of the modernization of the Main Branch, newly delivered books started being processed in that building, rather than at various circulation branch libraries. The rear of the library's main hall was partitioned off in 1950, creating a bursar's office measuring 42 by 13 ft (12.8 by 4.0 m). Minor repairs at
16642-538: The library facilities. These officials have on-duty arrest authority granted by the New York Penal Law . Some library branches contract for security guards. To celebrate its 125th anniversary in 2020, the NYPL calculated a list of its most checked out books. Topping the list was Ezra Jack Keats ' The Snowy Day , with The Cat in the Hat and Nineteen Eighty-Four rounding out the top three. Until 2021,
16799-474: The library include Nature , IEEE and Wiley science journals , Wall Street Journal archives, and Factiva . Overall, the digital holdings for the Library consist of more than a petabyte of data as of 2015. NYPL cardholders can download free e-books via the SimplyE app and website. As part of the Books for All program, a limited number of books in the NYPL's collection, which have been banned elsewhere in
16956-408: The library still suits the city remarkably well" and praised its "gentle monumentality and knowing humanism". Architectural historian Kate Lemos wrote in 2006 that the library "has held a commanding presence at the bustling corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue as the neighborhood grew up around it". The Main Branch also took on importance as a major research center. Norbert Pearlroth , who served as
17113-414: The library was adding 150,000 volumes to its collections annually, which could not fit within the stacks of the existing building. In the late 1980s, the New York Public Library decided to expand the Main Branch's stacks to the west, underneath Bryant Park. The project was originally estimated to cost $ 21.6 million and would be the largest expansion project in the Main Branch's history. It was approved by
17270-409: The library was closed for Thanksgiving , protestors demonstrating for Palestine caused $ 75,000 in damage to the facade, amid a budget crisis for the NYPL. There are nine divisions at the New York Public Library's Main Branch, of which eight are special collections . The General Research Division is the main division of the Main Branch and the only one that is not a special collection. The division
17427-455: The library's autonomy from politicians as well as bestowing upon it status, resources, and prudent care. Representative of many major board decisions was the purchase in 1931 of the private library of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847–1909), uncle of the last tsar . This was one of the largest acquisitions of Russian books and photographic materials; at the time, the Soviet government had
17584-403: The library's trustees to donate their collections of rare English and American literature. After Henry died, the collection was dedicated in his memory. The Berg Reading Room was formally dedicated in October 1940. During the 1930s, Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers helped maintain the Main Branch. Their tasks included upgrading the heating, ventilation, and lighting systems; refitting
17741-560: The library. The Main Branch also contains several historic designations. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, and designated a New York City designated landmark in 1967. Astor Hall, first-to-third-floor stairs, and McGraw Rotunda were designated as interior landmarks in 1974. and the Rose Main Reading Room and Public Catalog Room were separately made New York City designated landmarks in 2017. In
17898-443: The most demanded because of the ongoing war. It was estimated that 4 million people per year used the Main Branch in 1928, up from 2 million in 1918 and 3 million in 1926. There were 1.3 million books requested by nearly 600,000 people through call slips in 1927. By 1934, though annual patronage held steady at 4 million visitors, the Main Branch had 3.61 million volumes in its collection. Due to
18055-569: The most prominent supporter of the plan to merge the two libraries found support in Lewis Cass Ledyard , a member of the Tilden Board, as well as John Cadwalader , on the Astor board. Eventually, John Stewart Kennedy , president of the Lenox board, also came to support the plan. On May 23, 1895, Bigelow, Cadwalader, and George L. Rives agreed to create "The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations". The plan
18212-495: The mural in the Bill Blass Public Catalog Room, which had been severely damaged during its 105-year history. The NYPL also replaced its historic chain-and-lift book conveyor system with a new delivery system using "book trains" . The restored Rose Main Reading Room and Bill Blass Public Catalog Room reopened on October 5, 2016. Starting in August 2017, the Main Branch hosted an interim circulating library at 42nd Street, housing part of
18369-582: The name of the corporation as The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations . The library is governed by a board of trustees, composed of between 25 and 42 trustees of several classes who collectively choose their own successors, including ex officio the New York City Mayor , New York City Council Speaker and New York City Comptroller . The New York Public Library is one of three separate and independent public library systems in New York City. The other two library systems are
18526-505: The number of visitors, but guessed that 250,000 patrons were accommodated during the first week. The construction of the Main Branch, along with that of the nearby Grand Central Terminal , helped to revitalize Bryant Park. The Main Branch came to be regarded as an architectural landmark. As early as 1911, Harper's Monthly magazine praised the architecture of "this interesting and important building". In 1971, New York Times architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable wrote, "As urban planning,
18683-577: The ornamental statuary. In December 2005, the Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division space, with richly carved wood, marble, and metalwork, was restored. In 2007, the library announced that it would undertake a three-year, $ 50 million renovation of the building exterior, which had suffered damage from weathering and automobile exhaust. The marble structure and its sculptural elements were to be cleaned; three thousand cracks were to be repaired; and various components would be restored. All of
18840-446: The outer two keystones. The archways lead to the first floor of the structure, which is one story above ground level. The arches contain bronze doors with marble frames and triangular pediments. Hastings had drawn up a new design for the portico in 1921, but this was never constructed. George Grey Barnard also designed pediments for sculptures to be installed above the main entrance, representing "Life" and "Painting and Sculpture". When
18997-511: The park surface and the storage facility's ceiling. The extension was opened in September 1991 at a cost of $ 24 million; however, it only included one of two planned levels of stacks. Bryant Park was reopened in mid-1992 after a three-year renovation. The Catalog Room was renamed in 1994 for fashion designer Bill Blass , who gave $ 10 million to the NYPL. The Main Reading Room was closed in July 1997 for renovations designed by Davis Brody Bond. The restoration entailed cleaning and repainting
19154-508: The periodical room, was completed in 1983 with a $ 20 million gift from Reader's Digest editor DeWitt Wallace . The exhibition room reopened in May 1984 and was renamed the Gottesman Exhibition Hall. The Catalog Room was restored starting in 1983. Ten million catalog cards, many of which were tattered, were replaced with photocopies that had been created over six years at a cost of $ 3.3 million. In addition, room 80
19311-431: The primary elevation of the building. A terrace wraps along the Fifth Avenue elevation. The terrace is 90 feet (27 m) deep and contains a granite balustrade. The present design of the terrace dates to 1988, when it was resurfaced with granite, bluestone, and cobblestones. The terrace contains movable chairs and tables. Along the eastern edge of the terrace are two rows of Japanese locust trees. The Fifth Avenue entrance
19468-410: The public. The main entrance steps are at Fifth Avenue at its intersection with East 41st Street. As of 2015, the branch contains an estimated 2.5 million volumes in its stacks . The building was declared a National Historic Landmark , a National Register of Historic Places site, and a New York City designated landmark in the 1960s. The Main Branch was built after the New York Public Library
19625-553: The public. Upon the creation of the SIBL, the central research library on 42nd Street was renamed the Humanities and Social Sciences Library. Today there are four research libraries that comprise the NYPL's research library system; together they hold approximately 44 million items. Total item holdings, including the collections of the Branch Libraries, are 50.6 million . The Humanities and Social Sciences Library on 42nd Street
19782-491: The records of all NYPL patrons. On November 26, 2023, Sunday services were discontinued at select branches where it was offered; along with reduced programs for adults and children. This followed months of contentious budget negotiations between the City Council and Mayor Eric Adams , with Adams claiming that the New York City migrant housing crisis necessitated the budget cuts. The $ 12.6 million in city spending for
19939-470: The renovation and expansion of the building, and the library announced in April 2008 that the main branch building would be renamed in his honor. As a condition of the gift, Schwarzman's name had to be displayed at each public entrance. Later that year, British architect Norman Foster was chosen to design the Main Branch's renovation. To pay for the renovations, the New York Public Library was attempting to sell
20096-431: The research libraries in the system are largely funded with private money, and the branch or circulating libraries are financed primarily with city government funds. Until 2009, the research and branch libraries operated almost entirely as separate systems, but that year various operations were merged. By early 2010, the NYPL staff had been reduced by about 16 percent, in part through the consolidations. In 2010, as part of
20253-431: The restoration of the main exhibition room, which was redesigned by Davis Brody and Cavaglieri. Workers erected a temporary construction fence around the library's terraces in 1982. As part of a greater renovation of Bryant Park, Laurie Olin and Davis Brody redesigned the terraces, while Hugh Hardy redesigned the kiosks within the terraces. Several rooms were restored as part of the plan. The first space to be renovated,
20410-404: The sculptures were erected in 1915, he unsuccessfully sued the installers for $ 50,000 because they did not fit with his vision. On either side of the Fifth Avenue entrance pavilion, there are alcoves with sculptures of figures inside them, followed by five bays of windows. Each bay contains arched windows on the first floor and rectangular windows on the second floor, above which is an attic with
20567-475: The space. Gregorian organized events to raise money for the library, which helped raise funds for the cleaning of the facade and the renovation of the lobby, roof, and lighting system. Architectural firm Davis Brody & Associates , architect Giorgio Cavaglieri , and architectural consultant Arthur Rosenblatt devised a master plan for the library. Before the master plan was implemented, the D. S. and R. H. Gottesman Foundation gave $ 1.25 million in December 1981 for
20724-480: The summer. The reading room was meant to improve the morale of readers during the Great Depression , and it operated until 1943, when it closed down due to a shortage of librarians. In 1936, library trustee George F. Baker gave the Main Branch forty issues of the New-York Gazette from the 18th century, which had not been preserved anywhere else. In 1937, the doctors Albert and Henry Berg made an offer to
20881-685: The third-largest library in the United States. These circulating libraries offer a wide range of collections, programs, and services, including the renowned Picture Collection at Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library and the Media Center, redistributed from Donnell. The system has 40 libraries in Manhattan, 35 in the Bronx, and 14 in Staten Island. The newest is the Charleston Library, which opened on March 16, 2022. As of 2022,
21038-495: The time. The first item actually delivered was N. I. Grot's Nravstvennye idealy nashego vremeni ("Ethical Ideas of Our Time"), a study of Friedrich Nietzsche and Leo Tolstoy . The reader filed his slip at 9:08 a.m. and received his book seven minutes later. The Beaux-Arts Main Branch was the largest marble structure up to that time in the United States, with shelf space for 3.5 million volumes spread across 375,000 square feet (34,800 m). The projected final cost
21195-418: The top of the structure's exterior. The massing of the library building was intended to highlight its primary public spaces. There is a gable roof above the public catalog room, which is on axis with the main entrance on Fifth Avenue, as well as a hip roof above the main reading room, which runs north–south near the western end of the building. The Main Branch faces Fifth Avenue to the east; this comprises
21352-421: The treads on the branch's marble staircases; painting the bookshelves, walls, ceilings, and masonry; and general upkeep. The WPA allocated $ 2.5 million for the building's maintenance. In January 1936, it was announced that the Main Branch's roof would be renovated as part of a seven-month WPA project. In 1942, the main exhibition room was converted into office space and partitioned off. During World War II,
21509-540: The two houses together; it says only that the state's legislative power "shall be vested in the senate and assembly". Session laws passed by the Legislature are published in the official Laws of New York . Permanent New York laws of a general nature are codified in the Consolidated Laws of New York . As of January 2021 , the Democratic Party holds supermajorities in both houses of
21666-413: The wealthy, aided by the philanthropy of the wealthiest Americans of their age. The "New York Public Library" name may also refer to its Main Branch , which is easily recognizable by its lion statues named Patience and Fortitude that sit either side of the entrance. The branch was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, and designated
21823-564: The work was scheduled to be completed by the centennial in 2011. Library director Paul LeClerc said in 2007 that "my ambition is for this to be the building you simply must see in New York at nighttime because it is so beautiful and it is so important." By late 2007, library officials had not yet decided whether to try to restore damaged sculptural elements or just clean and "stabilize" them. Cleaning would be done either with lasers or by applying poultices and peeling them off. The businessman Stephen A. Schwarzman donated $ 100 million toward
21980-411: Was $ 10 million, excluding the cost of the books and the land, representing a fourfold increase over the initial cost estimate of $ 2.5 million. The structure ultimately cost $ 9 million to build, over three times as much as originally projected. Because there were so many visitors during the first week of the Main Branch's opening, the New York Public Library's directors initially did not count
22137-430: Was a free reference library; its books were not permitted to circulate. By 1872, the Astor Library was described in a New York Times editorial as a "major reference and research resource", but, "Popular it certainly is not, and, so greatly is it lacking in the essentials of a public library, that its stores might almost as well be under lock and key, for any access the masses of the people can get thereto". An act of
22294-489: Was also dismantled, the bulk of its collection relocated at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts as the Reserve Film and Video Collection, with parts of its collection redistributed. The site was redeveloped for a luxury hotel. Several veteran librarians have retired, and the number of age-level specialists in the boroughs have been cut back. The New York Public Library system maintains commitment as
22451-532: Was also used for major works and invention. Edwin Land conducted research at the building for his later invention, the Land Camera , while Chester Carlson invented Xerox photocopiers after researching photoconductivity and electrostatics at the library. During World War II , American soldiers decoded a Japanese cipher based on a Mexican phone book whose last remaining copy among Allied nations existed at
22608-532: Was appointed as head of the geography section of the War Department's New York Office of Military Intelligence from 1942 to 1945. Ristow and his staff discovered, copied, and loaned thousands of strategic, rare or unique maps to war agencies in need of information not available through other sources. The organizers of the New York Public Library, wanting an imposing main branch, chose a central site along Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets, on top of
22765-428: Was created in 1940 with a donation from Albert Berg in memory of his brother Henry, and was formally endowed in 1941. The initial collection comprised 3,500 books and pamphlets created by over 100 authors. An additional 15,000 works came from Owen D. Young , who donated his private collection to the library in 1941. The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle is a collection of around 25,000 works from
22922-495: Was delayed due to the high cost of securing large amounts of marble, as well as frequent labor strikes. When the Norcross Brothers' contract expired in August 1904, the exterior was only halfway completed. During mid-1905, giant columns were put into place and work on the roof was begun; the roof was finished by December 1906. The remaining contracts, totaling $ 1.2 million, concerned the installation of furnishings in
23079-413: Was formed as a combination of two libraries in the late 1890s. The site, along Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets , is located directly east of Bryant Park , on the site of the Croton Reservoir . The architectural firm Carrère and Hastings constructed the structure in the Beaux-Arts style, and the structure opened on May 23, 1911. The marble facade of the building contains ornate detailing, and
23236-483: Was hailed as an example of private philanthropy for the public good. On December 11, John Shaw Billings was named as the library's first director. The newly established library consolidated with the grass-roots New York Free Circulating Library in February 1901. In March, Andrew Carnegie tentatively agreed to donate $ 5.2 million (equivalent of $ 190 million in 2023) to construct sixty-five branch libraries in
23393-601: Was named the Andrew W. Mellon Director and Chief Executive of the Research Libraries. NYPL had engaged consultants Booz Allen Hamilton to survey the institution, and Ferriero endorsed the survey's report as a big step "in the process of reinventing the library". The consolidation program has resulted in the elimination of subjects such as the Asian and Middle East Division (formerly named Oriental Division), as well as
23550-403: Was no such site available for a main library building; furthermore, most of the city's libraries were either private collections or small branch libraries. Several sites were considered, including those of the Astor and Lenox Libraries. In March 1896, the trustees of the libraries ultimately chose a new site along Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets, because it was centrally located between
23707-446: Was opened in 1926 with a ceremony at the Main Branch. The marble on the library building is about three feet thick, and the structure is composed entirely of Vermont marble and brick. Most of the exterior of the building is made of white Vermont marble, which includes both perpendicular and parallel cuts. The lowest section of the walls is made of granite, and there are also bronze windows, doors, grilles, and fixtures. Tennessee marble
23864-442: Was opened in 1943. In 1944, the New York Public Library proposed another expansion plan. The stacks' capacity would be increased to 3 million books, and the circulating library in the Main Branch would be moved to a new 53rd Street Library . The circulating library at the Main Branch was ultimately kept for the time being, though its single room soon became insufficient to host all of the circulating volumes. Subsequently, in 1949,
24021-485: Was re-accepted into the Conference. The Legislature is empowered to make law, subject to the governor's power to veto a bill. However, the veto may be overridden by the Legislature if there is a two-thirds vote in favor of overriding in each House. Furthermore, it has the power to propose New York Constitution amendments by a majority vote , and then another majority vote following an election. If so proposed,
24178-640: Was renovated into a lecture hall called the Celeste Bartos Forum in 1987. Offices were relocated to former storage rooms on the ground level. Other divisions were added to the Main Branch during the 1980s, such as the Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle in 1986, and the Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs in 1987. The terraces on Fifth Avenue reopened in 1988 after they were restored. Meanwhile,
24335-481: Was selected to design and construct the new library. The jury named the firm of Howard & Cauldwell and McKim, Mead, & White as runners-up. Carrère and Hastings created a model for the future library building, which was exhibited at New York City Hall in 1900. Whether John Mervin Carrère or Thomas S. Hastings contributed more to the design is in dispute, but both architects are honored with busts located at
24492-688: Was taken in July 2018, NYC library card holders are allowed to visit Whitney Museum , the Guggenheim and 31 other prominent New York cultural institutions for free. In June 2017, Subway Library was announced. It was an initiative between the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, Queens Public Library, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority , and Transit Wireless . The Subway Library gave New York City Subway riders access to e-books, excerpts, and short stories. Like all public libraries in New York,
24649-418: Was used for the library's flagpole pedestals, seats, and lion sculptures. During construction, the builders conducted quality checks on the marble, and 65 percent of the marble quarried for the Main Branch was rejected and used in other buildings such as Harvard Medical School . The exterior is composed of 20,000 blocks of stone, each of which is numbered. An elaborate cornice with sculpted figures wraps around
#70929