1. “Some of the best memories of my childhood that I have are the times that I played hooky from school so I could spend my days in the public library reading all the wonderful books at my disposal.” -Woody Allen

    “Some of the best memories of my childhood that I have are the times that I played hooky from school so I could spend my days in the public library reading all the wonderful books at my disposal.”

    -Woody Allen

  2. “I love librarians more than any other people in the world. When I was an immigrant kid, they’ve made me feel like a human being and they gave me books that taught me English.” - Gary Shteyngart

    “I love librarians more than any other people in the world. When I was an immigrant kid, they’ve made me feel like a human being and they gave me books that taught me English.”

    - Gary Shteyngart

  3. “The library is every child’s lighthouse. It is every person’s sanctuary. It is every town and county’s fortress in the face of ignorance, intrusion and bad behavior.” - Amy Bloom It’s Sunday, a great day to read the books you picked up at the library yesterday!

    “The library is every child’s lighthouse. It is every person’s sanctuary. It is every town and county’s fortress in the face of ignorance, intrusion and bad behavior.”

    - Amy Bloom

    It’s Sunday, a great day to read the books you picked up at the library yesterday!

  4. Now is the time to think of only one thing. That which I was born for.

    — 

    The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway

    May 4, 1953, Mr. Hemingway is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea. It’s a good day to revisit this classic! Happy Flashback Friday!

  5. What greater gift than the love of a cat?

    — Good question, Charles Dickens. Good question. Want to see some rare items belonging to him? Come to NYPL’s free exhibit “Celebrating 100 Years” at our 42nd Street building (the one, appropriately, with the big cats outside). We have over 200 items from people like Malcolm X, Emily Bronte, Bob Dylan, and more. Looking for something else to do? The Anthology Film Archives is playing a bunch of cat videos today in NY. Happy Caturday!

  6. Librarians go viral! This amazing quote is printed on a carpet at the Gungahlin Library in Australia. The folks at Duke University Medical Center Library posted it to their Facebook page, where it got picked up and reposted by best-selling author Neil Gaiman, library lover and source of the quote. Authors, libraries, librarians - it’s perfect!

    Librarians go viral! This amazing quote is printed on a carpet at the Gungahlin Library in Australia. The folks at Duke University Medical Center Library posted it to their Facebook page, where it got picked up and reposted by best-selling author Neil Gaiman, library lover and source of the quote. Authors, libraries, librarians - it’s perfect!

  7. Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.

    — RIP, Steve Jobs

  8. Oh, Virginia, we hear you, and we can also see this quote on Library Way, located on 41st Street between Park and Fifth Avenues, in Manhattan. Library Way provides thoughtful and inspirational quotes from talented authors, on the streets of New York City.

    Oh, Virginia, we hear you, and we can also see this quote on Library Way, located on 41st Street between Park and Fifth Avenues, in Manhattan. Library Way provides thoughtful and inspirational quotes from talented authors, on the streets of New York City.

  9. I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.

    — 

    We couldn’t agree more with legendary writer Jorge Luis Borges, whose birthday is today. Happy birthday! Want to see the manuscript of his La loteria en Babilonia? It’s being shown as part of our FREE exhibition Celebrating 100 Years at the landmark Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 42nd Street. See over 250 rare items from our collections, including artifacts belonging to Charles Dickens, Malcolm X, Charlotte Bronte, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan and on and on and on. See you there!

  10. Tyra Banks Visits NYPL And Talks Libraries

    Supermodel and library lover Tyra Banks stopped by our landmark 42nd Street building this morning, talking with us about how “libraries are insanely important.”  Banks, who follows us on Twitter and wrote parts of her upcoming young adult novel Modelland in our Rose Main Reading Room, said, “The library is such a great equalizer. It doesn’t take money. You can have access to anything and everything in the world and get that knowledge and that entertainment for free. Especially in our economy right now, with things being expensive and people being laid off and  families having issues, to be able to come to the Library … that’s kind of amazing.” She added that the Rose Main Reading Room (where she’s pictured in this photo by NYPL’s Jonathan Blanc) “is just insanely gorgeous,” and said, “I would just look up and be inspired. I think this branch actually made me dream bigger and my imagination flowed. There were no boundaries because the room was so inspirational.” Tyra - who is currently reading Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - also uses our Mid-Manhattan Library sometimes, and said when she walked into the Inglewood Public Library in California as a kid, “I almost felt like it was giving me a hug.” Very sweet! Thanks Tyra! Her book comes out in September - get it in a library near you.