Blog Posts by Subject: Books and Libraries

By far the largest number of children's books—especially those for circulation (lending) to children and their families—is to be found at The New York Public Library. The largest collections of children's books in that you can visit are at its Children's Center at 42nd Street as well as the many children's rooms in the 87 neighborhood branches in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island. There are also children's collections at the Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Library.

However, there are also a number of smaller, often non-profit, children's libraries in New York City that are in most cases free and target the needs of children and adolescents with interests 

When the librarian told the kids that the library was slated to close because it was in a state of disrepair, the kids brainstormed about how to help the library. In fact, at each step of the way, not surprisingly, they read books to educate themselves about the logistics of their ideas and to flesh them out.

Over a century ago, The New York Public Library was founded with a basic purpose: to provide free access to information, literature, and cultural resources for the enjoyment and enrichment of all New Yorkers.

In the late 19th century, this meant accumulating vast collections spanning all subjects and languages, erecting beautiful buildings to store these books, and hiring brilliant, dedicated librarians to serve them to the public. But what would it look like if we founded The New York Public Library today?

Most of the collections at the Stephen A. Schwarzman building are closed-stacked, i.e., we bring them to you. But on the 3rd floor, the Rose Main Reading Room maintains open, very open stacks of about 30,000 volumes on every subject, not just the humanities and social sciences which is our collection strength.

Visit NYPL's BiblioCommons for these lists and many more. See below for some interesting staff picks from the past couple months, on topics both timely and timeless:

First published on February 1st, 1963, The New York Review of Books has been hailed to be one of the world's leading intellectual literary magazines. Known for its sharp and critical insights, commentaries and book reviews on culture, literature and current affairs, The NYRB has had much success in gaining attention from and written contributions by eminent scholars, intellectuals and writers such as Margaret Atwood, Noam Chomsky, Harold Bloom, John Updike, Gore Vidal, Joan Didion, and Mary Beard. The magazine was published in response to a printing strike in 1963 when The New York Times had ceased publication temporarily. This was a grand opportunity for 

I was super excited to tour the National Archives at New York City (part of the National Archives and Records Administration or NARA) on February 12, 2013 because I thought that it would be a terrific experience for the staff of the library. I became even more convinced that it would be a great experience when I saw a photo of the new location of the NARA library at a METRO (Metropolitan Library Council of New York) conference. The architecture in the building is spectacular! The new location is as follows:

This blog post was actually spawned from a visit to Devon Saddlery near Washington, D.C. I saw a poster there for a horse event, which included information on the National Sporting Library. I then became curious as to what other horse libraries were out there.

Today's pic pick is a book about being in a book? A book?

It's a book? Wait, I am confused and amused!

Yes, you read right, today's pic pick includes books about books, with the words book in the title.

The exhibit 'Brother, Can You Spare a Stack,' on view at the Center for Book Arts through March 30th, is a thoughtful consideration of the contemporary state of libraries by 13 socially engaged artists, librarians, and art collectives. Curated by Yulia Tikhonova, who organized the exhibition MAPnificent at the Mulberry Street Library in 2012, 'Brother, Can You Spare a Stack' breathes to life the spirit of librarianship in the 21st century. In today's challenged economy, public libraries are relied on more heavily than ever. The artists who have created the libraries for this exhibit have moved beyond the traditional four walls of the public library, and have brought collections and 

Most of my experience with animals has been with domesticated animals, but I am also interested in wildlife. Below are some wildlife libraries and museums that I found.

There was a time — in what has come to seem more and more a mythical past — when books were everywhere. Along the relatively short stretch of Fifth Avenue between the New York Public Library and Central Park were three magnificent bookstores: Doubleday, Brentano's, and the most architecturally stunning of them all, Scribner's. Around the corner on 47th Street was Gotham Book Mart ("Where wise men fish"). A few blocks west, on 57th Street, was the prodigiously well-stocked Coliseum Bookstore. All of these inhabited just one little chunk of midtown!

Like most people, I never thought I would be a librarian while I was growing up. I tossed around a few ideas periodically: horse trainer, accountant, or psychologist, but I ultimately switched to library science while I was in graduate school. Why? I like working with people, but I do not necessarily want to be a clinical psychologist. I love working in a large urban public library system, providing services to those who need it most. I love working with kids, doing story times, and working at a research library on Sunday. I enjoy blogging and the excellent literary programs that NYPL staff and visiting presenters produce. I have been a librarian since 2003, and I have met a few people 

Did you know that Grand Central Station (also known as Grand Central Terminal) recently turned 100?

Opened in 1871 on 42nd Street between Park and Lexington avenues, the station was renovated and reopened in February 1913. Grand Central is one of the largest train connecters to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) 4, 5, 6, 7 and S lines that run in four boroughs; and connections to Metro-North Railway going to Westchester, Putnam and Duchess counties.

During my vacation from the library, between Christmas and New Year's Day, I learned a remarkable lesson. You can get along very well without NEWS. For a full week, I entered a blissfully news-free vacuum. No NPR; no relentless checking of Google News; no Sunday New York Times beyond Arts and Leisure and the Book Review. I didn't care if it was the twenty-first century or the fifteenth. Without that drumbeat of doom in my head all the time, I could focus on what was really important: family, friends, dining, museums, and music.

Extraction:  ... 3. a. The action or process of obtaining (the constituent elements, juices, etc.) from any substance by heat, pressure, etc. (Oxford English Dictionary - available online with a NYPL library card.)

Crude. Oil that is. Black gold. Texas tea. Politics. Lobbying. Old boys. Influence.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts has an extensive dance collection. I love the kinesthetic artistry of physical movement. I was curious about dance libraries and museums, and below are some that I found.

We here at AskNYPL get regular requests for digital images on different topics and we're always happy to share the New York Public Library's very own Digital Gallery. While the NYPL Digital Gallery does a wonderful job with its collection, making things easy to find and accessible, we don't always have the content folks are looking for. These instances lead us outside NYPL's resources and we've found some spectacular image resources.