Library Resolutions You Can Make in 2025!
This year, make a resolution that's easy to keep—getting the most out of The New York Public Library! Our collections, our programs, our services, our staff, and our spaces are here for you. For new users and library veterans alike, here are some ideas for library resolutions to make and keep in the new year to maximize your Library connection.
Get a Library Card (or Tell a Friend!)
Your library card gives you access to a world of knowledge and a universe of stories—and getting one is easy.
Anyone living, working, or attending school in New York State is eligible for an NYPL library card. Visit your nearest NYPL location or apply online for a digital card.
Here's just a small sampling of ways you can use your library card:
- Borrow books, e-books, audiobooks, DVDs and CDs.
- Read digital magazines and newspapers online via PressReader and Flipster in English and many other languages.
- Learn a language (71 to choose from) with Mango Languages.
- Enjoy free visits to cultural institutions around the city with Culture Pass.
- Stream music through Naxos Music Library which has 2.8 million tracks of primarily classical, world, and folk music.
- Stream independent films and documentaries via Projectr.
If you are already a proud card-carrying member of NYPL—spread the word and encourage a friend or co-worker to get one!
Visit One of Our 92 Locations
There are plenty of things you can do with your library card from home, but if you haven't been inside one of our libraries in awhile, make it a goal (or habit!) this year. With 92 locations across The Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, we have a library near you (and visit our friends at Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library).
Browse the shelves for your next great read. Ask a librarian for book recommendations or other help. Join one of the many classes, events, and programs and meet fellow library users. We have comfortable seating, computers to use, Wi-Fi, and we look forward to welcoming you!
Find a location near you and make a plan to come see us!
Join Us for a Class or Workshop
Speaking of visiting in person...our staff hosts online and in-person classes and workshops for adults, teens, and kids all year long.
Here's just a taste of what we offer:
- Podcasting 101
- Genealogy Workshops
- Learn How to Draw With Procreate
- Career Coaching
- Writing Your College Essay
- iPad Basics
- Ciao! Italian Basics
- Knitting & Crocheting Circle
- Yoga
- Movie Matinees
- and so much more!
Browse our calendar of classes and workshops to find a good fit for you.
Read with Us
Whether you're already an avid reader or looking to add more reading to your life, we not only provide the books, but offer many ways to connect with fellow readers as well as authors over books. Here are a few:
Get Lit! Book Club
We've partnered with WNYC to bring you the Get Lit! Book Club. Join us each month to read our selected book (extra e-copies of the titles available through the Library) leading up to a live conversation, in-person or online, with the author and Alison Stewart, host of WNYC's All of It. (Plus, check out librarian-led discussions at select locations. Find a discussion group.)
The January Get Lit! title is Lazarus Man by Richard Price.
Teen Banned Book Club
Throughout the year, The New York Public Library's Teen Banned Book Club is offering free, nationwide digital access to young adult titles that have been the subject of bans or challenges, plus book club events and author talks so you can join the conversation.
Our next Teen Banned Book Club pick is Run: Book One by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated by L. Fury and Nate Powell.
Book discussions in the branches
Search our events calendar to find online and in-personal book discussions for children, teens, and adults hosted by library staff in branches across the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island. There's even a monthly book discussion conducted in Mandarin Chinese.
Make a Date to See a Free Exhibition
The New York Public Library offers free major exhibitions and special displays at three of its research library locations—the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Library for the Performing Arts, and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture—and community showcases at many of its branch locations throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island.
- The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures is a permanent exhibition on the main floor of the 42nd Street library with a rotation of rare and unique items from the Library's research collections. Plan your visit and explore the free Treasures Audio Guide.
- JIMMY! God's Black Revolutionary Mouth (through February 28, 2025, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture)
- The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S. (through March 1, 2025, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)
- A Century of The New Yorker (February 22, 2025–February 21, 2026, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Learn about current and upcoming exhibitions and community showcases at the Library.
Spend an Evening at the Library
Looking for fun, engaging ways to spend your evenings? Spend them with us! Bring a friend, a partner, or come along and meet new people at one of our many after-hours events. Here are just a few examples:
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LIVE from NYPL brings you free events, conversations, and performances featuring prominent writers, artists, and thinkers. (Missed a talk in-person? Check out our Library Talks podcast featuring the best live conversations with your favorite writers and the ones you’ll love next.)
The next LIVE from NYPL event is Jennifer Finney Boylan with Roxane Gay: Cleavage on February 4, 2025.
- The Library After Hours takes place on select Fridays at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building and features music, snacks and drinks, performances, and behind-the-scenes access to the Library’s collections.
- Each October, NYPL hosts an evening Halloween costume parade with Tim Gunn on the terrace of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library with drinks, crafts, and literary-themed costumes galore! Check out some photos from our most recent event.
- For teens, celebrate Anti-Prom at NYPL featuring music, art activities, snacks, and more. The event welcomes and celebrates young people of all sexualities and gender identities and expressions.
Protect the Freedom to Read
Book bans and challenges have been dramatically on the rise with books for young people and written by or about people of color and people who identify as LGBTQ+ being the primary targets. As the largest public library system in the country, The New York Public Library stands united with the American Library Association and libraries across the country against book bans. We believe in the freedom to read, and to that end we will continue to elevate, amplify, and celebrate the stories, voices, and titles that censorship tries to suppress.
Stand with The New York Public Library all year long to Protect the Freedom to Read! Discover all the Library has to offer, including our Teen Banned Book Club, programs and events, a free toolkit for you and your community, ways to get involved, and more for all ages.
Get (And Stay) Connected
Sign Up for NYPL Connect and More Library Updates
For the latest information on programs, cultural events, resources, and Library news sign up for the NYPL Connect newsletter. It's the best and easiest way to be in the loop and in the know. Plus, check out additional newsletters for Library lovers, including resources for young learners, biweekly resources from the Schomburg Center, updates from the Library for the Performing Arts, and more!
Follow Us on Social Media
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and X, for the latest Library news, book lists, blog posts, images from our Digital Collections, and more!