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Last Friday morning we were lucky enough to spend some time in the New York Public Library's main branch, which opened up in 1911, before the doors were unlocked to the public. Librarian David Smith and some of the other NYPL staff took us around on a tour of the massive structure, from the remains of the Croton Reservoir, to the Allen Room (reserved for writers with book contracts) to the room where Charles Dickens's dead cat's paw resides (seriously), we saw it all! Well, except for the miles of books in the stacks that are housed under Bryant Park, that's top secret. Stay tuned for some interviews with more of the folks behind the books, and until then, we highly recommend you show some support (or at least get your library card)!
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Love it!
I love the NYPL and I'm there every week, but man do I hate the 42nd St. library's attitude toward their material. God forbid you want to see any of it, you need a normal library card, an "Access" library card for super special people, and you'll probably also have to consent to a couple of interviews with librarians before you'll get anywhere.
I've also seen library staff (I hope not librarians) blatantly lie to patrons about the availability of collections. I guess the paperwork was too much for them, too.
I hope the NYPL in the future will figure out some way to allow walk-ins to request material.
apparently the 'library card' and 'access card' are becoming one card. i dont know if this will change anything service-wise.
I am really happy to hear that!
It just makes me sad when I see interested tourists dismissed like they aren't good enough to see the library's materials. If they are willing to show some ID and come back a day later so the material can be pulled from the stacks I don't see why it can't be done.
The ACCESS card is only for checking out non-circulating materials in the main research branch. In some special reading rooms you don't even need to show a card. The only paperwork you have to fill out is the slip with the book information.
Huh?? Granted I haven't used the 42nd St branch for research in a while, but when I did all that was necessary for accessing most collections was a request slip. It's a non-circulating research library, so I don't understand what problem you are describing. It seems to me entirely reasonable that they would need verification of your standing as a researcher or an author to see some special collections containing particularly rare and/or valuable items. Last time I checked, most of the other great libraries around the world - Blibliotheque National, the British Library, the Library of Congress, etc. - all required registration before permitting access to any of their collection, and NYPL was alone in permitting access to all to at least some of the collection.
top secret books? any clue as to what's down in there?
I wish the first two photos were of higher resolution...
thanks for featuring the NY Public Library, it's such an awesome resource
Fabulous. Thanks!
I don't understand -- what does this have to do with the hipster grifter?
The library is so beautiful, it's ridiculous. Nice photos.
nice photos dude!
Do a Flickr search for "NYPL stacks" and you can see what's under Bryant Park.
I had no idea there was still part of the reservoir left. I must see it!
Beautiful, but isn't the library now named after Moshe Tanenbaum or something to that effect...
Beautiful gallery, nicely done!
HI - is there some reason you captioned the other pics but didn't identify the William Blake? That's probably the most spectacular item Isaac 'pulled out for you' -- how lucky you were..."A rebel all of his life, Blake was once arrested on a trumped up charge of sedition. Of course, he was a complete sympathizer with the forces of revolution, both in America and France. He was a personal friend of Thomas Paine and made the American War of Independence and French Revolution parts of his grand mythology in his America: A Prophecy and Europe: A Prophecy..." it looks the the frontispiece Ancient of Days he pulled for you...see the nypl website
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/explore/dgexplore.cfm?col_id=156
All I can say is.... beautiful!
And thank you.
Aww, the Allen Room! I did a lot of the work on "Deep Wizardry" there. Brought in one of the first portable computers they'd ever seen, too.
More pics, please! (Don't forget the beautiful old fireplace...)
really nice feature. thanks for running it, and thanks to NYPL for giving you access.
neat pics! it really is a great place to study and explore.