
After reading and completing my tasks, I walked over to the public catalog room and the main reading room in order to watch others work. The sublime Beaux-Arts setting with marble walls, table lamps with gold shades, oak tables, and ceiling paintings depicting billowing clouds seem conducive to reading, even if the medium is a computer monitor instead of a book. Not everyone was studying, of course, but at least the room established the mood for introspection and thought.
Leaving the library by way of the Fifth Avenue entrance, I walked down the steps and passed the lions and walked west on W. 42nd St. to the rear of the building and to Bryant Park. Many people were sitting and talking in the park on this warm and humid afternoon. We had a huge storm in the city last night, a fierce tempest that ravaged many trees in Central Park (NYT City Room story), so I would imagine that many people were talking about it.
See more about the New York Public Library's Edna Barnes Salomon Room in the press release here. Laptops are available for lease. The main branch is now called the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, named for the businessman who has contributed $100 million for the building's renovation.
Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from August 19, 2009.
One more reason why the USA is the greatest country in the world and NYC is the greatest "little" city. (Los Angeles is the greatest "biggest" city.) (Urban sprawl.)
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