Portal:Library and information science/Selected article/6

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New York Public Library, central block, built 1897–1911, Carrère and Hastings, architects (June 2003)

The New York Public Library (NYPL), one of three public library systems serving New York City, is one of the leading libraries in the United States. The other New York City public systems are those of Brooklyn and Queens. The online catalogues of the Library are known by the acronyms CATNYP for the four principal research libraries and LEO for the dozens of neighborhood branch libraries.

The Public Library's main building on Fifth Avenue (pictured) is the crowning achievement of the Beaux-Arts architectural firm of Carrere and Hastings. Its status as one of the world's leading libraries is confirmed by its possession of (for instance) a Gutenberg Bible and a Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

The NYPL maintains 86 neighborhood branch libraries including five central circulating libraries throughout The Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island (The Mid-Manhattan Library, The Donnell Library Center, The Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, the circulating collections of the Science, Industry and Business Library, and the circulating collections of the Library for the Performing Arts) are all in or near midtown Manhattan and offer a wide range of in-depth collections, programs, and services, including the renowned Picture Collection at Mid-Manhattan Library and the Media Center at Donnell.