Schwarzman Library

Personal Experience in the Schwarzman Library

 There are many famous public buildings and architectures in New York, the Schwarzman library is one of them, also one of my favorite public libraries as well. When I first visited, there are manual security checks at the entrance and exit of the library. If you have any bag or package, they will be opened in advance, and the staff will greet you with enthusiasm, then take a look with a small flashlight and let you go. You are free to bring any size of bags, many people even have large and small baggage to visit, and unlike the community hall, the New York Public Library allows to take pictures (not flash), and can also bring water into the library. The New York Public Library gives visitors maximum freedom. No tickets, you can take pictures, you can eat and drink in a limited area, but you also need to follow the minimum rules of the library. At the door of each reading room, there is a "Welcome" sign. Prompt everyone: You enter a quiet area, you want to mute your phone, you can't eat and drink, look after your belongings, don't take photos with the flash to enter the library. Visitors almost silently obey these rules and guard the same. The silence, solemnity and sacredness here. In my opinion perhaps it is a great privilege for everyone to visit such a world-famous building so easily. 

By: Ayikuti Wulamu

Behind the Scenes of the Schwarzman Library 

 The Schwarzman Library also is known as “The New York Public Library”  located on 5th Avenue between 40th and 42nd street or as most people remember, in Bryant Park. The design of this library was created by Dr. John Shaw Billings and the first design was briefly sketched on a scrap of paper. His plan included an enormous reading room topping ,seven-floor stacks and the fastest delivery system in the world. The firm of Carrere & Hastings was chosen to construct the new library and it took workers two years to prepare the site. The cornerstone was placed on November 10, 1902. Towards the end of 1906, the roof was done, and designers began five years of interior construction. When the Schwarzman Library was first built, it was the largest marble building ever built in the United States. By 1910, there were 75 miles of shelves placed to contain their large selection of books. On May 24th, 1911, The New York Public Library officially opened and had about 30,000 to 50,000 visitors on its first day. This library quickly became a part of American life, providing information to all kinds of people in America. Today, the New York Public Library is the fourth largest library in the United States in terms of book quantity by currently housing over 53 million books. The two lions named Patience and Fortitude that sit on the sides of the entrance were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965, according to the National Register of Historic Places. Starting out with 75 miles of shelves and stacks, they now store 125 miles of them. They also have a staff of 3,150 including highly experienced librarians that are determined to help. Overall, this library holds a strong history and will continue to grow and aid many people with the information they need.

 By: Jennifer Serrano

The creation of the Schwarzman library 

 The Schwarzman library is located on fifth avenue and was once a reservoir, which in part can still be seen in one area of the library. The library was founded in 1895 and was built in 1911, taking 20 years to build. Andrew Carnegie introduced the public library system to New York with this being the flagship. Its founder was Samuel J. Tilden who had a substantial trust fund known as the Tildon Trust which he used to establish and maintain that the library be free, in May 1895 the Tildon Trust combined with Astor and Lenox libraries to form the new library. Astor and Lenox, two large donors, were the names given to the two prominent lions at the grand entrance of the library originally. The lions are now named Patience and Fortitude as Mayor La Guardia renamed them during the depression as he felt that these were two very important things the people of New York needed at the time. Furthermore, the entrance to the library and the library itself became a hub for people to meet, read and look for jobs. Although its age the library has stayed the same throughout its existence and stayed in great conditions thanks to public-private donations each year accumulating to over $26 million. However, an underground was added to the library as they needed more space to store all the books they hold, which at present holds over 18 million books and over 52 million items. Unlike most libraries around the world this is not a traditional library in terms of it only being a research library therefore books are not allowed to be taken out of the library. The library is for all people and all interests reflecting how New York is as a place and attracts 13 million people each year from both nationally and internationally.

 By: Olivia Russell

History about Schwarzman Library

 The New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, located on 42nd street and fifth avenue, is a monumental building for the people in New York City. If you're still  having difficulty finding it, it’s just behind Bryant park. This world renowned library holds millions of books, manuscripts, photographs and much more. One might say all libraries known to man was put together to create the Stephen A. Schwarzman building. To top it all of its not just one area with material its multiple sections. It consists of 4 major research libraries and 88 branches located in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island. It offers the amenities of wireless internet access. Printing accessibility with photocopiers both black and white or even colored. Scanners, restrooms for the public interlibrary loan, screen magnification software, screen reading software. Laptops for public use. They even offer book drop box. If you owe the library anything but it's closed due to late hours or even because it’s a holiday you can drop the item off in their drop box, no hassle.Telecommunications devices for the hearing impaired. Outlets to charge electric devices. Did you know that the library was named after the buildings trustee? According to the article “Find The Future| NYPL at 100” (http://exhibitions.nypl.org/100/learn/fun_facts) The Library’s landmark building was named the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building for the Library Trustee in 2008 after his historic $100 million donation. If you ever have free time I highly recommend you to go and visit the Stephen A. Schwarzman library. Patience and fortitude the library’s lion are waiting for you. No worry they don’t bite their actually friendly animals. Patience guards the south side of the Library's steps and Fortitude sits unwaveringly to the north. Walk around admire the buildings enter one of its many divisions trust me it will have you lost for words.

 By: Elizabeth Nembhard

Peace & Quiet

 Schwarzman Library Op-Ed piece in my opinion the Schwarzman Library is more modern base. As looking at the mood of the library and the colors on how it looks. The building was on the site of the City’s Croton Reservoir at 42nd street and 5th avenue which I found was amazing , this is in the middle of everything, site seeing for tourist or New Yorkers. This building lasted 12 years which was pretty old. In the first place the building took 20 years to build , from this theory you can't tell the library is huge and has a lot going on inside. The library is a depression place to read books and also looks, but I feel that anywhere can be a depression place as long as it's quiet. The New York Public Library is one of fourth of the largest buildings in the world. The marble floors are ancient and have a lot of stories which are good for pictures.The secret storage was a location after the Pearl Harbor was attacked with 12,000 volumes of books. As can be seen the building is beautiful and gives me a big classroom vibe. It's adjacent to Bryant Park so breakfast or lunch can be coordinated around the tour hours. Even with tourists wandering and taking pictures, there were enough signs and staff to enforce the respect for quiet. I've always wondered how big this place was. Looking at the pictures of this place looked like it was going to be a very wide and spacious library, but it really wasn't so grand. I was expecting the reading area to be opened to the public but it wasn't.There were some pretty neat looking artifacts on the second floor. I went into the quiet room and saw a lot of old paintings. Overall the place is very nice for a library.

 By: Coreione Alexander