New York Public Library

**Our Story** The New York Public Library has been an essential provider of free books, information, ideas, and education for all New Yorkers for more than 125 years. Founded in 1895, NYPL is the nation’s largest public library system, featuring 92 locations across the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, including our world-renowned research centers at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Together with our circulating branches, including the all-new Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL), the Library provides an extraordinary richness of resources and opportunities available to all. With millions of visitors through our doors annually, and millions more around the globe, the Library holds over 54 million items, from books, e-books, and DVDs to renowned research collections used by scholars worldwide. Housed in our research centers, NYPL’s historical collections hold such treasures as a draft of the Declaration of Independence written in Thomas Jefferson's hand, one of the few surviving copies of the Gutenberg Bible, and original works, manuscripts, letters, and more by luminaries in literature and art, including William Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Charles Dickens, Maya Angelou, John Coltrane, Augusta Savage, and more. NYPL’s neighborhood libraries in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island—many of which date to Andrew Carnegie’s visionary philanthropy at the turn of the 20th century—are centers of educational innovation and service, vital community hubs that provide far more than just free books and materials. Our local libraries play a key role in closing the digital divide, especially for the millions of New Yorkers who don’t have internet access at home. New York City public school students rely on their local branches for homework help. The city’s immigrant communities count on NYPL’s English language and literacy classes. Job seekers depend on our comprehensive job search resources. Altogether, the Library offers tens of thousands of free programs annually, serving everyone from toddlers to teens to seniors. In the always expanding digital realm, The New York Public Library provides patrons worldwide with powerful online tools to help them discover its extensive resources and services. On nypl.org visitors can browse the Library’s immense collections, download e-books, and view more than 900,000 items from our award-winning [Digital Collections](https://digitalcollections.nypl.org). Through [SimplyE](https://www.nypl.org/simplye), the Library’s free e-reader app, users can borrow instantly from NYPL’s entire collection of more than 300,000 library e-books in just a few easy steps. Through [Ask NYPL](https://www.nypl.org/get-help/contact-us) our librarians are available to answer patron questions on any topic at any time. Supported by both public funds and private donations, The New York Public Library embarks on its next 125 years passionately committed to meeting the ever-changing needs of our patrons. For the millions who depend on us in this, the world’s most vibrant and diverse city, NYPL is more important than ever. **NYPL’s Mission Statement** **The mission of The New York Public Library is to inspire lifelong learning, advance knowledge, and strengthen our communities.** To deliver on this promise, we rely on three great resources—our staff, our collections, and our physical and digital spaces—to provide opportunities for learning and growth to all New Yorkers. **1\. We inspire lifelong learning by creating more able learners and researchers. We:** - Teach learning and information-navigation skills - Provide tools, resources, and great places to work - Engage in great exploratory conversations - Ask and answer questions that encourage patrons to challenge their assumptions - Support creativity, research, and problem-solving - Bring people together to spark creative synergies and learn from each other **2\. We advance knowledge by providing free and open access to materials and information that reflect New York’s global perspective. We:** - Identify, acquire, and preserve items that enhance our unique areas of expertise - Connect with other organizations whose materials complement our own - Inspire interest, expand horizons, and enrich perspectives - Build tools that allow us to connect with the world in our areas of expertise **3\. We strengthen our communities by promoting full citizenship and participation in society. We:** - Promote the development of key skills and capabilities - Provide dynamic resources to help patrons understand and engage in society - Create safe and reliable places where we and our patrons can enjoy, honor, celebrate, and engage with our communities - Offer unique and authoritative materials of historical importance - Bring our diverse communities together