From the sculpture by Edward C. Potter 
ONE OF THE LIONS (IN MARBLE) ON THE MAIN APPROACH 
FROM FIFTH AVENUE 
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 
(CARRERE & HASTINGS, ARCHITECTS,) 
BY JOHN S. BILLINGS 
Director of the Library 
THE New York Public Library dif- 
fers from the great libraries of Lon- 
don, Paris, St. Petersburg, and Washing- 
ton in that it provides both a library of 
reference and a system of circulation, and 
is thus the largest library system in the 
world, supplying a greater number of read- 
ers than any other. In the number of 
books and pamphlets contained, it is ex- 
ceeded by the British Museum, the Biblio- 
theque Nationale of Paris, the Imperial 
Library of St. Petersburg, the Library of 
Congress at Washington, and perhaps one 
or two others, being in this respect the 
sixth or seventh in the order of magnitude 
of the great libraries of the world; but as 
a system for supplying books to all classes 
of readers, it is unequaled in size, and is 
likely to remain so. 
It is now fifteen years since the forma- 
tion of this library system was begun by 
the consolidation of the Astor and Lenox 
libraries and the Tilden Trust, the first 
meeting of the trustees of the new cor- 
poration having been held May 27, 1895, 
at which time the consolidated library 
contained about 353,000 volumes. Since 
that time the following libraries engaged 
in circulation have been consolidated with 
it: the New York Free Circulating Li- 
brary, with eleven branches; the Wash- 
ington Heights Free Library; the St. Ag- 
nes Library; the New York Free Circula- 
ting Library for the Blind; the Aguilar 
Free Library, with four branches; the Har- 
lem Library; the Tottenville Library ; the 
Library of the University Settlement; the 
Webster Free Library; the Cathedral 
Free Circulating Library, with five 
branches; being nearly all of the public li- 
braries exclusively engaged in the circula- 
tion of books. In 1902, under the pro- 
visions of agreements made with the city 
of New York and with Mr. Andrew Car- 
negie, the construction of new branch li- 
brary buildings was begun, and thirty-two 
of these have now been completed and 
opened to the public. The number of 
Carnegie libraries ultimately to be erected 
in the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, 
and Richmond is about sixty. 
In the autumn of 1910, the New York 840 
THE CENTURY MAGAZINE 
Public Library included in its reference 
department about 800,000 volumes, 300,- 
000 pamphlets, 100,000 manuscripts, 70,- 
000 prints, two picture-galleries, and a 
large collection of maps, all being con- 
tained in the old Astor and Lenox build- 
ings, and to be transferred to the new 
building now about completed. It in- 
cludes, in addition, forty branch libraries 
for the circulation of books, containing 
about 780,000 volumes, and circulating 
over seven millions of volumes per year. 
The reference department is mainly for 
the benefit of scholars and writers, the cir- 
culation department for the education and 
recreation of the great mass of the people, 
though each does both kinds of work and 
supplements the other. 
The annexed map shows the distribu- 
tion of the branch libraries of the circula- 
tion department in the boroughs of Man- 
hattan and the Bronx. Each of them 
contains from eight to thirty thousand vol- 
umes, and supplies a population of from 
30,000 to 60,000, being about half a mile 
from its nearest neighbors. Each has a 
large room devoted to children and chil- 
dren’s books, a small reference-library for 
adults, and many have a special assembly- 
room for lectures. All have telephone 
connection, and interchange books freely 
to meet the needs of readers. 
The new library building on the site of 
the old reservoir on Fifth Avenue has ac- 
commodations for about three million vol- 
umes and over seventeen hundred readers. 
When it is completed, the collections 
now in the Astor and Lenox buildings 
will be placed in it, and its reading-rooms 
will be open to the public every day and 
evening. 
The architects, Carrere & Hastings, 
have shown that it is possible to supply all 
the demands of library administration in 
a building which is a work of art worthy 
of its site. 
It has been planned with special refer- 
ence to the needs and convenience of sev- 
eral different classes, so that great facili- 
ties can be given to the general public and 
the casual visitor without interfering with 
those required by scholars and special stu- 
dents in serious research wTork. The large 
reading-rooms on the third floor, seating 
768 persons and containing about thirty 
thousand volumes of reference freely ac- 
cessible on open shelves, the periodical- 
LOCATION OF THE CIRCULATION BRANCHES 
OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 
INDICATED BY BLACK DOTS THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 
841 
room, the newspaper-room, and the exhi- 
bition-rooms, are open to every one, while 
the science, technological, sociological, pub- 
lic documents, Oriental, music, and other 
special collections, are in rooms devoted to 
these subjects, to which access will be 
given by cards corresponding to the alcove 
privileges formerly given in the Astor Li- 
a few small rooms available for the use of 
single workers. 
As the reading-rooms and collections 
are distributed on three floors of a build- 
ing 390 feet long and 270 feet wide, it is 
evident that readers and visitors who wish 
to use the resources of the library to the 
best advantage, and with the least delay, 
THE SCREEN OF THE MAIN READING-ROOM 
brary, but which have been withdrawn for 
the last few years owing to the overcrowd- 
ing of the building, and the necessity of 
filling the alcoves with temporary shelves. 
Each of these rooms will be virtually a 
special library containing series of periodi- 
cals, monographs, text-books, etc., relating 
to the special subject, and all freely ac- 
cessible to the reader holding the admis- 
sion-card. 
Any one, however, may have brought to 
him in the general reading-room any book 
in these special libraries. There are also 
should give a little time and attention to 
learning the location of the works which 
they desire to consult, and thus make them- 
selves more or less independent of the 
guides, information-desks, etc., to be pro- 
vided for the benefit of strangers and 
casual readers. 
A visitor who merely desires a direction, 
a definition, or a brief summary, such as a 
good directory, gazetteer, dictionary, or 
encyclopedia will furnish, will find these 
in a room on the lower floor directly oppo- 
site the Forty-Second Street entrance. VIEW OF THE MAIN FACADE OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, FROM THE EAST SIDE OF FIFTH 
AVENUE, AT FORTY-SECOND STREET, JANUARY, 1911 THE ORIGINAL SCHEME FOR THE FIFTH AVENUE FACADE (FROM THE COMPETITIVE 
DRAWING OF THE ARCHITECTS, CARRERE & HASTINGS) 
The reader who wishes to spend an hour 
or two in search of something new and 
interesting, but who has no particular 
book or subject in mind, will find what is 
required either in the periodical-room or 
among the new hooks, which will be kept 
for a short time in a special case in the 
main reading-room. 
The scientific inquirer, the engineer and 
technologist, the patent attorney, the stu- 
dent of political science and economics, the 
investigator of early American history, the 
VIEW OF THE BRYANT PARK FACADE OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC 
LIBRARY, JANUARY, 1911 
The long, narrow window spaces are for the lighting of the book stacks, while the arched 
windows above belong to the main reading-room. At the left of the picture is seen the 
Bryant Memorial (see page 849) which faces Bryant Bark on the medial line of the library. 844 
THE CENTURY MAGAZINE 
reader in Jewish history and literature, in 
Slavonic literature, or in Oriental litera- 
ture, the musician, the genealogist, and 
the blind man, will each find a special 
library for his use contained in a separate 
room with an attendant. The science 
rooms, on the northeast corner of the sec- 
ond floor, will contain on opening about 
fifty thousand volumes and seats for sixty 
readers. The technological and applied- 
science rooms, on the main floor immedi- 
ately below, will contain about sixty thou- 
sand volumes. The 
patent room, on 
the northwest cor- 
ner of the main 
floor, will be much 
used, and will con- 
tain twenty-three 
thousand volumes 
and have seats for 
sixty-four persons. 
Above this will 
be the public-docu- 
ments room, with 
eighty thousand 
volumes and seats 
for thirty readers, 
and connected with 
this the room for 
economics, with 
twenty thousand 
volumes and seats 
for twenty readers. 
The special rooms 
for students in 
Jewish, Slavonic, 
and Oriental liter- 
ature will accom- 
modate from six to 
thirty-two readers, will have from seven 
thousand to ten thousand volumes, and 
will communicate with the main stack, 
where other collections related to cognate 
subjects, such as Bibles, are placed. 
While many special students will find 
all or nearly all they desire in these special- 
library rooms, the great majority of read- 
ers will find it necessary to learn some- 
thing of the contents and uses of the cen- 
tral “information and catalogue” room 
on the third floor, which is an anteroom to 
the large general reading-room. This 
room is about eighty feet square, and 
against its walls will stand cases contain- 
ing the catalogue of the library, on about 
two million cards. 
Near the middle of the room will be an 
information-desk, where a skilled librarian 
with assistants will be ready to help read- 
ers to obtain what they desire. In this 
room will also be the catalogues of the 
British Museum, the Bibliotheque Nation- 
ale, and the Library of Congress, with 
several hundred volumes of bibliogra- 
phy. It will be a part of the duty of the 
librarian at the information-desk to show 
readers how to use the catalogues and bib- 
liographies and how to make out their 
order-slips, and tell 
them where to re- 
ceive the books they 
call for. Most of 
them will go to 
the main reading- 
rooms adjacent, 
where they will 
find about thirty 
thousand refer- 
ence-books on open 
shelves from which 
«they can help them- 
selves, and v/here 
any book in the li- 
brary will be fur- 
nished to them 
from the central 
delivery-desk. 
The south side 
of the building 
contains the mech- 
anism for supply- 
ing heat, light, and 
mechanical power, 
and the offices 
for administrative 
work. These are 
not open to the public, and have a separate 
entrance on Fortieth Street. The steam 
and electrical machinery are in the cellar, 
the printery, bindery, and shipping-room 
in the basement, the offices of the circula- 
tion department, of the superintendent of 
the building, and of the disbursing officer 
on the first floor, and the catalogue-rooms, 
order-room, and director’s offices on the 
second floor. Of the work done in these 
offices the public sees nothing and can 
judge only by the results as shown in the 
manner in which its needs are supplied. 
This is not the time or place to give de- 
tails as to how the library is to be ar- 
ranged and managed; but of immediate 
interest to the students of the present gen- 
MARBLE VASE—DETAIL OB' THE 
PORTICO MAIN APPROACH FROM FIFTH AVENUE AND PORTICO OF THE NEW YORK 
PUBLIC LIBRARY (CARRfeRE & HASTINGS, ARCHITECTS) 
Half-tone plate engraved by H. C. Merrill 
DRAWN FOR THE CENTURY BY JULES GUERIN 846 
fHE CENTURY MAGAZINE 
eration are the character and completeness 
of the collections to be found in it. 
The most artistic building, the most 
perfect mechanical devices, the most elabo- 
rate system of catalogues, are of small im- 
portance to a reader if the books which he 
wishes to see are not there; but it should 
be remembered that the presence of a suit- 
able home has a powerful influence in bring- 
ing in the books. When the Astor, Lenox, 
and Tilden collections are placed in the 
new building, it will be one of the best 
libraries in the country for general and 
miscellaneous work, and, in a few sections, 
the best of all; but it will need extensive 
additions to make it what it should be, and 
it is certain that these additions will be 
made. 
There are very few books of importance 
to the scholar of which it will not contain 
t\c text in some form, although not al- 
ways in the first edition, nor in the edition 
most desirable on account of typography, 
illustrations, or notes. 
While the demands upon a large gen- 
eral reference-library, and its needs, are 
much the same everywhere, including the 
sources, important commentaries, mono- 
graphs, and summaries new and old in 
every department of printed literature in 
all languages, the only library in this coun- 
try which at present has sufficient means 
to justify it in making its collections from 
this point of view is the Library of Con- 
gress in Washington. The public libraries 
of the large cities and universities cannot 
fully cover the entire field even in the 
new publications, and must make selec- 
tions. For each library, subject to the 
limitations of cost and of space, the choice 
From the architects’ drawing 
The Board of Trustees consists of twenty-four members, the officers being: John Bigelow, President; John L. 
Cadwalader, 1‘irst V ice-President; Charles Howland Russell, Secretary, and Edward W. Sheldon, Treasurer. 
MARBLE MANTEL IN THE TRUSTEES’ ROOM DETAIL OF THE CEILING IN THE TRUSTEES’ ROOM 
From the architects’ drawing 
must depend largely upon the demands 
actually made upon it, the character of the 
special collections which it already pos- 
sesses, the resources of other reference-li- 
braries in the city, and the probability of 
increases by gifts of special collections, or 
of endowments for special purposes. 
The greatest demand upon this library 
is for periodicals, both new and old, in- 
cluding, under this head, journals, maga- 
zines, transactions of societies, and reports 
of institutions and corporations. The 
greatest number of calls is for numbers of 
current periodicals, literary, scientific, phi- 
lological, historical, artistic, technological, 
industrial, philosophical, and religious, and 
this demand is supplied on a large scale, 
one half of the fund available for the pur- 
chase of books being now devoted to this 
purpose. About seven thousand current 
periodicals are received, covering all sub- 
jects, in all languages, and these are in- 
stantly available for the use of students. 
About one thousand of these are indexed 
for important papers, the titles of which 
are copied on cards, with the proper refer- 
ences, and these cards are at once placed 
in the public catalogue under the sub- 
jects to which they refer. The periodical 
room in the southeast corner of the main 
floor of the new library includes a space 
120 feet by 40 feet, and will be one of 
the most attractive features of the build- 
ing. 
The modern slang phrase, “a back num- 
ber,” to indicate uselessness, does not ap- 
ply to the files of old periodicals in the 
library. There are about ninety thousand 
volumes of these, and they are of the great- 
est value to students in search of historical 
data on any subject. In the field of Amer- 
ican history the files of old newspapers are 
of special importance, and of these the 
library has one of the largest collections in 
this country. Current newspapeis, show- 
ing the course of events in all parts of the 
world, will be supplied in a room no by 
35 feet in the northwest corner of the 
basement floor. At present only about 
fifty important newspapers are subscribed 
for; but this room will give space for two 
hundred, which it is hoped will be sup- 
plied by a special endowment fund. 
The field in which the New York Pub- 
847 848 
THE CENTURY MAGAZINE 
lie Library is strongest is history, and espe- 
cially American history, including not 
only the United States, but all countries 
in North and South America. No library 
in the world has a complete collection of 
the literature of American history, or even 
of the history of the State of New York 
from the colonial period to the present 
time. The largest collections of this kind 
and genealogies, and an extensive series of 
old newspapers and of State and municipal 
documents, which are being constantly 
added to as opportunities offer. 
The “Americana” begin with the letter 
of Columbus announcing the result of his 
first voyage, include the contemporary re- 
ports of Vespucci, Cortes, Pizarro, and 
their followers, of Smith and the Virginia 
HERBERT ADAMS’S STATUE OF WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT 
are in New ork City, Washington, 
Philadelphia, Boston, Providence, and 
Cambridge, and in London, but even if 
all these collections were put together, 
there would still be some deficiencies to 
be discovered by the special student. 
The materials of the library in this field 
are not surpassed by any other library, as 
they include the books and manuscripts of 
the Lenox, Tilden, George Bancroft, T. 
A. Emmet, Bailey-Meyers, and Ford col- 
lections, a large section of local histories 
settlers, of Bradford and Winthrop for 
New England, the Dutch in New York, 
and the French in Canada, the original 
“Jesuit Relations,” etc. Special facilities 
to students in this department will be 
given in the rooms on the third floor de- 
voted to manuscripts and rare Americana. 
In many of the older European libraries 
the manuscripts are of more interest and 
importance than the books, and form the 
special attraction to scholars and histori- 
ans in all fields of literature. In this coun- THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 
and a few fine specimens of 
Persian and Arabic manu- 
scripts. It also has a Sa- 
maritan Pentateuch of 1232 
a.d., and four manuscripts 
of Wyclif’s version of the 
New Testament in English, 
dating between 1380 and 
1420. 
The art department is one 
of the most important sections 
of the library, from the educa- 
tional and historical, as well 
as from the esthetic, point of 
view. The rooms on the east 
front of the upper floor of the 
new building will be devoted 
to this department, and will 
contain the Lenox picture-gal- 
lery, the Stuart collection, the 
print rooms, and the most im- 
portant works on the history 
of the fine arts, including the 
important art books of the 
Tilden collection. These rooms 
cover a floor-space of 18,000 
square feet, and will be one 
of the most attractive features 
of the library to the general 
849 
THE BRYANT MEMORIAL, WITH PEDESTAL 
FOR THE BRYANT STATUE 
try the manuscript collections of interest 
relate mainly to local history or to the his- 
tory of the United States. This library 
includes about fifteen hundred volumes 
and fifty thousand separate pieces of this 
kind, among which may be mentioned one 
hundred and seventy volumes of Spanish 
papers relating to Spanish America, sev- 
enty-four volumes of transcripts of the 
loyalist papers, being the applications, me- 
morials, petitions, etc., of the so-called dis- 
tressed American loyalists, with the re- 
ports upon them by the British Commis- 
sioners of Inquiry, dating from 1783 to 
1790; the Bancroft, Emmet, and Ford 
collections, and the Gates, Schuyler, and 
Tilden papers. 
It has also some valuable illuminated 
manuscripts, such as the lectionary of the 
Gospels, with miniatures by Giulio Clovio, 
made for Pope Paul III about 1540 A.D., 
a lectionary with miniatures and illumina- 
tions on purple vellum, about 870 a.d., 
MARBLE URN—DETAIL FOR THE 
BRYANT MEMORIAL A PART OF THE MAIN PERIODICAL ROOM 
public, as well as to artists and art stu- 
dents. 
The print department is an important 
one, and contains the collection of the late 
Samuel P. Avery, which is specially rich 
in the works of the French etchers of the 
second half of the nineteenth century; a 
valuable collection of Japanese prints, the 
gift of the late Charles Stewart Smith; 
and a good collection of the work of 
American artists. Its treasures will be 
brought before the public by exhibitions 
not only in the main building, but also in 
the branch libraries. 
The great reading-rooms will supply 
the readers in general history, ecclesiastical 
history, literature, philosophy, etc., and in 
each of these fields, besides all the stan- 
dard works, there are many small collec- 
tions of unusual fullness and interest. The 
seeker for first editions, ancient and little 
known poetry and fiction, privately printed 
brochures, and curios, will find many 
things in his line, but possibly not the par- 
ticular thing that he most wishes, or fears, 
to see. 
The collections of Irish history and lit- 
erature, of naval history, of dramatic lit- 
erature, including over twelve hundred 
prompt-books; of philosophy, folk-lore, 
and the history of Mormonism, Shaker- 
ism, and other sects, are all exceptionally 
large, and contain some rare and curious 
pieces. 
When the library has a special fund 
given to it for the purchase of a particular 
class of books, such, for example, as the 
fund given by the late Alexander M. 
Proudfit for the purchase of works rela- 
ting to naval history, and the fund given 
by Mr. Jacob H. Schiff for the purchase of 
Semitic literature and works relating to 
Jewish history, of course these are used 
exclusively for the enlargement of these THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 
851 
special collections, and in this way a per- 
manent monument to the donor is being 
constructed, as each book is marked with 
his name. 
New York City being a great commer- 
cial center, the demands which its mer- 
chants and traders make upon the library 
are many and varied. As a rule it is the 
latest information that is wanted, the most 
recent issues of trade directories and jour- 
nals of all countries and in all languages. 
Many of these are costly and bulky, and, 
for the most part, only of ephemeral inter- 
est, becoming obsolete in a year or two at 
best. On rare occasions back volumes of 
these publications are called for for his- 
torical purposes, but probably no library 
would be justified in attempting to obtain 
and preserve all, or even a majority, of 
them. 
At present the library is receiving a 
fairly good supply of the journals devoted 
to special trades and industries, and to 
commerce and finance in the broader sense 
of the words; but its supply of trade direc- 
tories of other countries is very poor, and 
it is to be hoped that this may be largely 
increased in the new building. In official 
statistics of commerce, of State and mu- 
nicipal finance, of railroads, etc., it has one 
of the best collections in this country, and 
these must be kept up to date, and made 
more complete, as opportunity offers. 
Virtually within two blocks of the new 
library building, are three important spe- 
cial libraries, namely, the Library of the 
Academy of Medicine, the Library of the 
Association of the Bar, both in Forty-third 
Street, and the Engineering Library in the 
new building for the engineering societies 
on Thirty-ninth Street, erected at the cost 
of Mr. Andrew Carnegie. The character 
and management of these libraries will 
have much influence on the action of the 
Public Library in collecting books relating 
to these several specialties. The Library 
PAVILION OF THE MAIN FACADE (FORTY-SECOND STREET END) 852 
THE CENTURY MAGAZINE 
of the Academy of Medicine contains 
about eighty thousand volumes relating to 
medicine and the allied sciences, being one 
of the four largest medical libraries in this 
country, and is open to the public. This 
relieves the Public Library of the necessity 
of doing more for medicine than it is now 
doing, namely, the taking of a few of the 
leading medical journals of the world, the 
occasional purchase of a medical book de- 
sired by lay readers, and of a good selec- 
tion of works on hygiene. The Library 
of the Association of the Bar contains 
about fifty thousand volumes, and is one 
of the best working libraries of its kind 
in the country. It is not a public library, 
but a card of admission may be obtained 
from any member of the Bar Association. 
Its collection of statutes, session laws, and 
law reports is a very complete one, and it 
is strong in international law. Just what 
and how much the Public Library should 
do for its law department is an unsettled 
question and one upon which opinions dif- 
fer widely. It has a good collection of 
works on the principles of law, the rights 
of man, etc., and on constitutional law; 
also on the history of law, on interna- 
tional law, and on criminal law, but it has 
little on commercial law, and few modern 
text-books or monographs. It contains a 
large amount of source material for the 
history of law, including an extensive 
series of the legislative proceedings of all 
countries and States publishing such docu- 
ments, but it does not as yet attempt to 
supply the demands of undergraduate law 
students. 
It is not yet certain whether the engi- 
neering societies in the new building on 
Fortieth Street will undertake to make a 
complete collection of the literature of en- 
gineering, but this library will be accessi- 
ble to the public, and it is possible that the 
Public Library can properly lessen its 
large expenditure in this direction. 
I he library of the Union Theological 
Seminary, now in the new building near 
Columbia University, is a public library, 
and has a large collection of books relating 
to theology. Another important special 
library is that of Spanish literature, 
formed by Mr. Archer M. Huntington, 
and established in a separate building un- 
der the auspices of the Hispanic Society of 
America. Other special collections which 
are kept in min,d in the selection of books 
for the New York Public Library are the 
collections on architecture, on botany and 
zoology, and on anarchism, in the Colum- 
bia University Library, and those of the 
New York Historical Society, the Amer- 
ican Geographical Society, the Numis- 
matic Society, etc. 
The library has a good selection of 
books and periodicals on all these subjects, 
and keeps them up to date to meet the 
wants of general readers, but it does not 
’■>urchase rare and costly works which are 
known to be in the special collections 
above referred to, not from lack of desire 
to possess them, but because the limited 
funds available for the purchase of books 
compels it to make restricted selection. 
The most important addition to the 
convenience of the reading public from the 
opening of the new library building will 
be due to the fact that it will be open in 
the evening and on Sundays and holidays. 
This will require a large addition to the 
library staff, and an increase in cost of 
administration. This fact, together with 
the great size of the building, and the ex- 
istence of a number of special libraries set 
apart in it, will make the cost of adminis- 
tration of the new building nearly double 
the present expenditure for the Astor and 
Lenox buildings together. This increased 
cost must be met from the funds of the 
library, for such is the agreement with the 
city, which has erected the building. 
If the New York Public Library is to 
hold its place as one of the six greatest 
libraries of the world,—not to say im- 
prove its position, as it certainly should 
do,—public-minded citizens interested in 
its work and in the greatness of their city, 
must aid its trustees by increasing the 
means for the purchase of books. The new 
building will have accommodation for 
three and a half million volumes, and it 
ought to possess this number of books 
within twenty-five years. 
There is no library in this country in 
which special collections of books can be 
placed, established, or endowed with 
greater certainty as to their preservation 
and usefulness, and every such collection 
will be a lasting monument to its donor 
or founder.