The expansive New York Public Library has the distinction of being the United States’ biggest city public library and North America’s third biggest public library. It is counted amongst the world’s great libraries, with a collection of over 10 million volumes and in excess of 10 million manuscripts in addition to sizable collections of maps, pictures, films, microfilms and books designed for the blind.

The library was constructed almost a century ago, and at the time of its completion was the most massive marble edifice to ever have been constructed in the United States. Its ceremonial dedication was performed by President Taft. The imposing structure took no less than 16 years to complete, with its design conceived by director Dr. John Shaw Billings and carried out by Thomas Hastings and J.M. Carrere. The two majestic lions which guard the entranceway were sculpted by Edward Clark Potter. The main reading room of the building is 297 ft long, 78 ft wide and its ceilings are a lofty 52 ft high.

First opened to the public in 1911, the magnificent library was established by merging New York’s existent Astor and Lenox libraries with a donation by Samuel Tilden of $2.4 million. The location of the Croton Reservoir was selected as the site for the vast construction project. Even at the time of its opening, the library contained in excess of a million books.

Today the establishment boasts of almost 2 million cardholding members, and its mammoth collection is said to increase by about 10,000 books and other articles each week. In conjunction with the principal building, collections are also kept in a secondary midtown branch as well as 82 other branch locations; there is also an annex for patents and newspapers.

Several distinct aspects are to be seen in this vast public-oriented establishment. The Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture is considered to be amongst the best collections of its nature on the globe. Another highlight is the immense comprehensively computerized Science, Industry and Business Library.

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