There’s a lot to admire about the New York public library. The flagship libraries are stunningly beautiful, clean, well-staffed, and offer a bunch of free services. That said, they’re stuck in two outdated paradigms: The “Shh!” paradigm The broken windows paradigm
Yes! I have a lot of half-baked thoughts here I might spin out into a post.
First, a lot of these stem from a free tour of NYPL main branch (Stephen A. Schwarzman Building) I attended a week ago [1]. It's a chill way to start a Saturday or Sunday, so if that's of interest, just wanted to quickly plug that. I recommend booking tix a week in advance when they get released for the following weekend.
One new thing I learned from the tour was that the NYPL Main Branch isn't actually a normal library where the public can go in and check out books. Actually, it is a research library -- so, if you want to access the collections, you have to establish yourself as a researcher and book time to access the content there. This is really cool, but leaves a gap for how the broader public can engage with the library.
During the tour, I noticed over half (70%?) of the people sitting around were coding or on a computer instead of reading (side note: could be helpful to walk through the library sometime to quantify this more formally). This tells me this kind of work is already a core use case for library patrons. In fact, our docent told us they informally call the Edna Barnes Salomon Room [2] the "wi-fi room" since that's such a core use case.
I just Googled it and you are right -- computer classes are a thing at the NYC library system as a whole via the TechConnect program [3]. BUT, none of those classes are at the Main Branch.
I guess basically I think it would be cool if the Main Branch made this more of a priority. Right now it is stuck between being a museum, wedding venue [4], and sorta a place for people to work digitally. That last part would be a great way to engage with the public.
Yes! I have a lot of half-baked thoughts here I might spin out into a post.
First, a lot of these stem from a free tour of NYPL main branch (Stephen A. Schwarzman Building) I attended a week ago [1]. It's a chill way to start a Saturday or Sunday, so if that's of interest, just wanted to quickly plug that. I recommend booking tix a week in advance when they get released for the following weekend.
One new thing I learned from the tour was that the NYPL Main Branch isn't actually a normal library where the public can go in and check out books. Actually, it is a research library -- so, if you want to access the collections, you have to establish yourself as a researcher and book time to access the content there. This is really cool, but leaves a gap for how the broader public can engage with the library.
During the tour, I noticed over half (70%?) of the people sitting around were coding or on a computer instead of reading (side note: could be helpful to walk through the library sometime to quantify this more formally). This tells me this kind of work is already a core use case for library patrons. In fact, our docent told us they informally call the Edna Barnes Salomon Room [2] the "wi-fi room" since that's such a core use case.
I just Googled it and you are right -- computer classes are a thing at the NYC library system as a whole via the TechConnect program [3]. BUT, none of those classes are at the Main Branch.
I guess basically I think it would be cool if the Main Branch made this more of a priority. Right now it is stuck between being a museum, wedding venue [4], and sorta a place for people to work digitally. That last part would be a great way to engage with the public.
[1] https://www.showclix.com/event/nypl-building-tours
[2] https://www.nypl.org/node/177
[3] https://www.nypl.org/techconnect
[4] ngl, Kevin Love's wedding at NYPL did look pretty 🔥 https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ct61JOVLg4O