New York Public Library

New York Public Library by Carol Yuen
In 2009, The New York Public Library introduced its new mission statement. The Library's mission is to:
Inspire lifelong learning
Advance knowledge
Strengthen our communities
This was the final Library of our tour. We were met by Ruth Carr who gave us a brief history of this extraordinary Library from its beginnings in 1895 through the several additions in the 1970s, 1990s and the last remodeling in 2008 that allows for new spaces for classes and lectures. The NYPL has a vast range of collections to support its research functions. However it also has a public library function and elements of a museum as well.
The NYPL has an excellent website www.nypl.org and a browse though the site would give a more comprehensive picture of the service with its 88 branch libraries dotted all over the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island.
We concentrated on the main building as this library is considered one of the world's great libraries. Even as it officially opened in 1911 the collection had reached a million items. It has continued to grow and maintains its focus on the humanities and social sciences. Specialized research collections have also developed in the Performing Arts, Black Culture, Science, Industry & Business and these libraries as located off site but still on Manhattan Island. It was clear that the traditional role of the NYPL as a library of last resort was changing and Ruth informed us that - shock, horror consideration was even being given to the inter library loan of some materials and the inclusion of the nearby Manhattan lending branch into the main building. The real estate value of the 88 branches must be significant and we can only imagine the pressure to rationalize some to these closely located branches despite the heavy utilization of the services.
In the time available Ruth showed us through a small sample of the treasures of the NYPL. These included the:
The Allen Room for writers.
In the past writers had been able to take up a desk for the duration of their research have books delivered to this desk and hold them rather than filling in repeated requested but the real reason for the exclusivity was that the writers (and staff) were able to smoke! Well that's all gone now we were able to see a very different collection that was on display. It included the original of Thomas Jefferson's copy of the Declaration of Independence written in his own hand and the Guttenberg Bible.
The De Witt periodical room (De Witt foundered the Readers' Digest)
This area also included the Jewish Reading Room for Jewish genealogy.
The room included a fascinating collection of the buildings associated with newspaper and periodical publishing. The building of all the best known publishers including the Time Life building, Herald Square, Times Square, Harpers, Park Row, City Hall newspapers, McGraw Hill and the Hearst Building decorate the walls of this space.
(Where's the New Yorker magazine? I ask - Gone to Conde Naste - I thought it would have its own building)
Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal map division.
We were interested to hear more about these "endowments" and just how much one would give to have naming rights for a collection or room in the NYPL. Due to the GFC many of the current endowments are "underwater" as they say, so times are tough but the figure of $5m was suggested as a starting point.
Other examples of "named" collections were dropped with ease as we passed the Berg collection of English and American literature including a first edition of Huckleberry Fin, the Spencer Collection of fine Japanese scrolls. Poor Spencer went down with the Titanic but left his inheritance to the NYPL. We glimpsed the Carl H Pforzheimer collection of Shelly and his circle on our way to the main reading room.
The main reading room, also significantly endowed, is known for one of these endowments as the "Rose" room
This is a huge room stretching the length of the building. The North zone is completely silent - not even the tap of a laptop. Books come up from the stacks in the middle of the room and are quietly made available to readers from the vast collections that are housed in billings number order or perhaps by size or accession number - not a Dewey number in sight! The second half of the Rose reading room or South zone is a little more like the reading room of one of our state libraries and it was here that several of us took the opportunity to join the library. This would enable is to use wireless facilities but not the research collections. These reading areas have vast ceiling but not so big that they could not be fitted with electronic cameras. These electronic "eyes" can actually detect what you are reading. This was certainly a reminder that we were in New York just uptown from Ground Zero.
Finally on a lighter note several of us ducked round the corner to the 42nd entrance to the Children's Library and saw the original stuffed animals that inspired the Winnie-the-pooh books. Couldn't believe piglet was so small! The Children's services are certainly state of the art but the quaintness of the space was beguiling.