The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Student Research Guide

Website:	www.nypl.org
Telephone:	Check the website for specific locations, hours, phone
Address:	Main Branch Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street New York, NY 10018 Other branches, directions, and hours can be found at http://www.nypl.org/hours/
Directions:
Hours:
Cost:	Free

One stop for anyone writing or researching anything should be a library, and what better library could you ask to have at your fingertips than the New York Public Library (NYPL)? It has more than just one location. It’s a huge network of buildings and people that extends throughout the city and includes branch libraries and research libraries.

Branch libraries allow you to take out books. If you want, though, there is ample space for you to read and work. To take books out, you do need a library card, but getting one is very easy: you just have to show proof that you are a resident of New York State. You can do so with an ID card or an envelope with your name and address on it that has been mailed to you (postmarked). The branch libraries tend to be smaller and much more localized, sometimes specializing in certain departments. Many of their holdings reflect the people who use them most frequently, usually those who live in the surrounding neighborhoods.

For example, if you are looking for foreign texts, particularly German, Russian, and Chinese, you should try the branch libraries on the Lower East Side. So, depending on what you are researching, you may want to travel to a branch outside of your neighborhood. You can search the branch libraries from any Internet source, including computers at your own local library, through LEO on the NYPL’s home page. LEO is the catalog for all 85 NYPL branch libraries located in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. If you find a book you like, be careful to check whether you can take it out or not. Branch libraries do have small sections of books for reference only that you cannot check out.

The research libraries are much larger than the branch libraries, but there are fewer of them. Located throughout the city, they do not require a library card because they do not allow you to check out books. Instead, you can look up a book and then ask the librarian to bring it to you. You must stay in the reading room area (where there are tables and computers and ample room to work comfortably) and return the book before you leave. There are four NYPL research libraries, and each one is specialized: the Humanities and Social Sciences Library; the Science, Industry, and Business Library; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. To search their holdings, use “CATNYP,” which you can access from any Internet source by going to the NYPL’s home page.

The New York Public Library, arguably the world’s finest, provides you with more than just books. Several of its libraries, especially the research facilities, offer computers for you to access the catalogue, search online, and do word processing and even printing. A few of the libraries, including the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Library, even offer Internet connection if you bring a laptop along. WordPerfect 6.0, Lotus 1-2-3, Microsoft Office 97, ClarisWorks, and Print Shop Deluxe are all examples of the software that is available to you, free of charge. Not every branch has all of these programs, so you should check beforehand.

The libraries also have musical recordings, videos, magazines, newspaper, and microfilms. Many of the research facilities’ holdings even include primary documents that you can use to reconstruct the lives of ordinary people throughout American history. You’ll find such famous works of print as a Gutenberg Bible and Jefferson’s manuscript copy of the Declaration of Independence. As the largest library system in the world, the NYPL also holds a large variety and quantity of literature.

The libraries also host many exhibits and activities. The research libraries in particular have very interesting exhibits and displays that are full of information and are free to the public. Though typically smaller, these displays rival those of any of the great museums you can find in the city. All of the libraries, branch and research alike, sponsor many events, such as lectures, films, concerts, plays, writers’ readings, story hours, tutoring, discussions, arts and crafts, and a variety of workshops.

For specific information on any of the libraries—holdings, computers, exhibits, activities, hours, directions, etc.—visit the NYPL’s website at www.nypl.org.

People travel from all over the country and the world to visit the New York Public Library, online and in person. For you, it is only a stone’s throw away. USE IT and realize how lucky you are to be living in such a world-class city and have resources like this one right in your back yard.