Humanities and Social Sciences Library
FAQ (frequently asked questions)
In General
Access to the Collections
Other Services
Life and Lore
How many books does the Library have?
System-wide Statistics are available
on the New York Public Library Website. (Use the "return" or "back" feature
on your browser to get back to this FAQ.)
Where are the books?
Visitors to the Humanities and Social Sciences Library are often surprised
to find that Astor Hall, the main lobby inside the 42nd Street entrance,
contains
no books. Each of the Library's eleven reading rooms, including the vast
Deborah, Jonathan F.P., Samuel Priest and Adam R. Rose Main Reading
Room (Room
315), includes basic reference books which are available for browsing and
consultation directly by the reader.
Most of the collection, however, is kept in "closed stacks," storage
areas not accessible to the reader. Materials from the stacks are requested
by filing a call slip at the appropriate divisional reference desk. Items
are then retrieved for readers by Library employees, called Pages, and
delivered
to the reading rooms where they may be used.
For more information, see How
Do I Find a Book.
Who can use The Research Libraries?
Generally speaking, the Humanities and Social Sciences Library's resources
are available to all without qualification.
Materials in the Special Collections (the Rare
Books Division, the Manuscripts
and Archives Division, the Photography
Collection and the Print
Collection among them), require identification to be presented in the
Office of Special Collections
before readers are admitted to these specialized reading rooms.
Because the Humanities and Social Sciences Library is so large and complex,
readers 18 years and younger will usually be better served in NYPL's Branch
Libraries system.
Adults may also wish to use the Branch
Libraries as a first resource, since there is likely to be a facility
close to home or work, the collections are browsable, and most of the books
are available to check out to qualified borrowers.
How fast are the books delivered
to a reader?
In the General Research Division,
books delivered from the stacks to the Rose Main Reading Room are often available
to the reader in twenty minutes or less. The amount of time it takes for a
book to reach a reader, however, is affected by many variables: the number
of readers requesting service at the time, the number of staff members on
duty, and especially the proximity of the book's shelf location to the reading
room (the Humanities and Social Sciences Library includes over 88 miles of
shelving!). Books stored in the more remote stack levels, including the Bryant
Park Stack Extension, which reaches underground to Sixth Avenue, can take
45 minutes or more to deliver.
The Library is very proud of its ability to deliver materials on demand
and so quickly. Researchers who work in some European research libraries,
for example, must request books a day or more ahead and return to the library
to use them.
Why can't I take books out of The Research
Libraries?
The Research Libraries of The
New York Public Library are completely non-circulating. That means that
the collections have been assembled as a permanent record of civilization,
and keeping them all on-site at all times helps ensure that materials will
remain in the collections forever.
Although at times the non-circulating nature of the materials may seem
to limit readers' work, the policy also makes all materials are available
to all readers at all times the Library is open.
Can I borrow a book from The Research Libraries
on Interlibrary Loan through my local library?
The Research Libraries maintain limited interlibrary loan agreements with
Research Libraries Group (RLG) member libraries. However, there may be photocopy
or other document delivery options which satisfy a request. For more information,
contact the Cooperative Services Division at (212) 930-0878.
Do you have copying facilities?
Self-service photocopiers are available in the Rose Main Reading Room (room
315, North Hall), and in the DeWitt Wallace Periodicals Division (room 108).
Self-service copying in the Rose Main Reading Room requires librarian approval.
Many Humanities and Social Sciences Library materials may be copied only by
Library staff. This helps to maintain the condition of research materials
which are often both rare and fragile. (See the discussion on the non-circulating
nature of the collections, above). Staff-assisted quick copies may be
ordered at the Copy Services desk in the North Hall of the Rose Main Reading
Room. Other kinds of copying, such as microfilm or photography may be ordered
in the division holding the material. A large format copier for flat materials
is available in the Map Division (room 117). Self-service microform
reader/printers are located in room 100. Printing from computer workstations
is available throughout the Humanities and Social Sciences Library. Fees
vary according to the kind of copying.
Is everything in CATNYP?
CATNYP, the online catalog of the Research
Libraries of the New York Public Library, contains bibliographic information
on books and other materials cataloged since 1972, as well as earlier materials
added as part of ongoing retrospective conversion projects. CATNYP is
available via telnet and the World Wide Web. See
more detailed information on CATNYP.
Materials cataloged before 1972 appear in the Dictionary
Catalog of the Research Libraries, 1911-1971.
Many divisions and special collections in the Humanities and Social
Sciences Library maintain separate book catalogs, card files, and electronic
files and databases to control additional holdings. For more information,
contact the appropriate
division.
Do the Pages really wear roller skates?
Only in the Francis Ford Coppola movie You're a Big Boy Now. Most wear
sneakers.
What are the names of the lions in front
of the building?
The New York Public Library lions, sculpted by Edward C. Potter in pink Tennessee
marble, have been known by various nicknames since they were placed in front
of the Central Research Library (now the Humanities and Social Sciences Library)
in 1911. Although they have no official names, they are commonly known as
Patience and Fortitude today. More
information about the lions.
What movies and literature feature the Library?
Were all of the scenes in Ghostbusters
really filmed here?
Yes and no. Library exteriors and Main Reading Room (South Hall) shots were
filmed at NYPL. The stack scene featuring the female ghost knocking books
and shelflist cards all over the place was filmed at the Los Angeles Public
Library's main building in downtown L.A. That building was the victim of arson
a short time later, but has now been beautifully restored.
How did New York City come to be known
as "The Big Apple"?
Alternate explanations from Barry
Popik and the Gotham
Center for New York City History.
There is no single, authoritative answer as to why New York City is known
as The Big Apple. That the term is now widely known may be due to a tourism
publicity campaign launched by the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau
in 1971.
Certainly, the term was used before that. The most recent research
traces the phrase back to a book published in 1909. In a New York Times
article of February 1, 1989, David Shulman refers to The Wayfarer in
New York, a collection of essays edited by Edward S. Martin. On page
xiv of that book, Mr. Martin wrote that the rest of the country "inclines
to think the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national
sap."
This is the earliest use of the term yet brought to our attention.
Previously, the phrase had been linked to jazz slang, or to the
popular dance named the Big Apple. The Dictionary of American Slang (Wentworth
and Flexner) and The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins
both trace the phrase in this way, but this only takes it back as far as
the 1930s.
John Ciardi (New York Times, 7/19/78) relates the phrase
to the Spanish term "manzana principal," which denotes a city's main section.
He goes on to say: "Translated as Big Apple by New Orleans jazzmen around
1900 with the sense "the big time," the idiom passed into show bizz..."
