Getting Oriented

 

The New York Public Library comprises both scholarly research collections and a network of community libraries. While attuned to New York City, its intellectual and cultural range is both global and local, lending to the Library an extraordinary richness. It is special also in being a privately managed, nonprofit corporation with a public mission, operating with both private and public financing in a century-old, still evolving partnership.

The community libraries (located in neighborhoods throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island) resemble classic American municipal libraries.

Below are guides to the Library's locations, collections, and services

The research collections are similar to the holdings of the great national and university libraries. Used for on-site reference only, they are located in four major centers for research in Manhattan.