Imagine that you are on your New York City vacation and you are walking around Manhattan, enjoying all of the amazing sights. You have been to a Broadway play and it was everything you thought it would be and you have also walked through Times Square. Every person you had talked to before coming to NY has told you that you must wander the streets of Times Square if only to look at the rows and rows of buildings and signs as you go. The next stop you are about to make for the day, is at the Statue of Liberty. You stand in front of it and marvel at how gigantic and gorgeous it is. You even take a look around inside and it is truly an amazing sight. You soon begin to wonder what the story behind this incredible statue is. How did it come to be? Who made it and whose idea was it in the first place? Where can you find out all of this information? You can simply go to the New York Public Library for all of this information and more.

Could it be the next “best in show”?

The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a one of the best in the world. It is also a significant library in terms of research in the United States. It was founded all the way back in 1895 and it includes 87 different branches. It’s constructed of a circulating library system as well as a non-lending research library system. Because of this double purpose, it’s one of the biggest and most important libraries in the US. It functions due to private and public funding and is a privately managed corporation. The reason it includes public funding is because of its public mission. If you need to know anything about anything, the NYPL is the place to visit. A kid-friendly activity, make sure to grab your children and load everyone in your minivan rental or large SUV rental for a field trip!

The NYPL: the place for answers

Many say that the NYPL is one of the five most important libraries in America. The other four are Harvard, Boston Public Library, Yale and the Library of Congress. New York City actually has three different public libraries, as opposed to just one. The other two libraries in NY are Queens Borough Public Library and the Brooklyn Public Library. The NYPL has branches in the Bronx, Staten Island and Manhattan. Each library is free of charge for visitors, so drive your Manhattan car rental over and take a look!

Oh, the things you could learn

What’s even better about the NYPL is that is has a telephone reference service. It was built in 1968 as a separate system and today, it’s still one of the largest around. The service has 10 different researchers with different educational degrees who can consult with close to 50 other researches in the entire library system. You will always get either an answer or somewhere to look for an answer, like a web site perhaps. The main language spoken is English, but some can speak a bit of Chinese, Spanish, German and Yiddish. You can talk to one of these researchers every day except Sundays and holidays, between 9am and 6pm. The library has also been in many different films and literature pieces. It is certainly worth a look.