New York Public Library Main Branch has been listed as one of the Art and architecture good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it. Review: September 28, 2019. ( Reviewed version).

A fact from New York Public Library Main Branch appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 28 October 2019 ( check views). The text of the entry was as follows: Did you know... that the New York Public Library Main Branch (pictured), whose stacks contain an estimated 2.5 million volumes, uses "book trains" to carry books to patrons? A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2019/October. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/New York Public Library Main Branch.

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The contents of the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature page were merged into New York Public Library Main Branch. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected page, please see its history; for the discussion at that location, see its talk page.

The contents of the Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle page were merged into New York Public Library Main Branch. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected page, please see its history; for the discussion at that location, see its talk page.

I put three more pictures of the flagpole bases in the commons category, and one each of Beauty and Truth. Jim.henderson ( talk) 06:25, 11 December 2008 (UTC) reply

See main article in 5 minutes or so. 66.234.33.8 ( talk) 19:37, 8 January 2012 (UTC) reply

Technically, I don't believe this building is referred to within the library system as a "branch." (It is the central location for the Research Library, as opposed to a branch library—although ironically that distinction within the system is beginning to blur these days). Is there a better name we could use for the article? (I do not support using the recently conferred name of "Schwarzman Building" as the article name, as that name is not (at least not yet) in common parlance.) Newyorkbrad ( talk) 22:18, 30 December 2012 (UTC) reply

Fwiw and chiming in, "Central Research Library" was the staff's name back in the 1980s, when I briefly worked for NYPL on a fundraising project. Staff reserved use of the word "branch" for the many small neighborhood NYPL libraries—taxpayer-funded—that loaned books to patrons. Walter Dufresne ( talk) 13:45, 27 October 2021 (UTC) reply

This article should be updated to include more information over the Central Library Plan, its controversy, and the fact that it has been abandoned. The plan, involving Foster +Partners as architects, would have gutted the historic stacks beneath the main reading room. I'd write it but I don't have time at the minute.

Kiravae ( talk) 20:07, 10 May 2014 (UTC) reply

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by 97198 ( talk) 07:22, 21 October 2019 (UTC) reply

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New York Public Library Main Branch

• ... that the New York Public Library Main Branch's (pictured) central stacks can hold an estimated million books? Source: NY Times
  • ALT1:... that the New York Public Library Main Branch's (pictured) central stacks, located partly under a nearby park, can hold an estimated 4 million books? Source: NY Times; NYPL Facts
  • ALT2:... that during World War II, American soldiers decoded a Japanese cipher based on a Mexican phone book whose alleged only copy existed at the New York Public Library Main Branch (pictured)? Source: Democrat and Chronicle
  • ALT3:... that Norbert Pearlroth, researcher for the Ripley's Believe It or Not! book series, used an average of 7,000 books annually at the New York Public Library Main Branch (pictured)? Source: NYPL Facts
  • ALT4:... that "book trains" carry books from the New York Public Library Main Branch's (pictured) central stacks to patrons? Source: NY Times 2016

• Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Deng Hongkui: Chen Hu

Improved to Good Article status by Epicgenius ( talk). Self-nominated at 04:01, 28 September 2019 (UTC). reply

• Epicgenius Eligible, QPQ is good, article is of a high quality. I have issue with the phrasing of the first and ALT1, because the cited article specifically says "Estimates for the capacity of the old shelves at the library have ranged widely, and critics are skeptical of a new 2.5 million figure.", and the highest estimated figure is 4 million. Additionally, the article says "Another 2.5 million books were being moved from the NYPL's ReCAP warehouse in New Jersey to Level 2 as of 2015, and when that was finished, the number of books in the Main Branch's stacks would rise to four million." To me, that implies that they can hold up to 4 million items. Further, what does "up to 3.5 million" mean? To me it reads that the maximum capacity is 3.5 million, but there actually aren't 3.5 million books. I'd like to see that tightened up. I have issue with ALT2 as says it was "The last remaining volume among the allied nations" not the only copy. ALT0, ALT1, ALT3 and ALT4 are good to go. Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 12:55, 29 September 2019 (UTC) reply

• Image is appropriately licensed. Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 12:58, 29 September 2019 (UTC) reply

• @ Eddie891: Thanks for the review. I struck out ALT2, and changed ALT1 and ALT0 a bit. I'd much rather prefer ALT3 or ALT4 though, since these are hooks you've already approved. epicgenius ( talk) 14:20, 29 September 2019 (UTC) reply

• Thanks. Passing-- ALTS 0, 1, 3, 4 are good to go, but I agree with Epicgenius that 3 and 4 are better solely because the number of books in the stacks is a slippery figure. Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 13:25, 30 September 2019 (UTC) reply

• @ Epicgenius: I think ALT4 would be better if you add a figure ("which contain up to 4 million books") to explain why they need a book train. Yoninah ( talk) 17:54, 9 October 2019 (UTC) reply
  • @ Yoninah: How about ALT5:... that "book trains" carry books to patrons from the New York Public Library Main Branch's (pictured) stacks, which contain up to 4 million books? epicgenius ( talk) 17:55, 9 October 2019 (UTC) reply

• @ Epicgenius: yes, but the article seems to be saying that they can hold up to 4 million books, not that they actually do. Would it be better to cite the more precise "an estimated 2.5 million books" from the New York times? Yoninah ( talk) 17:58, 9 October 2019 (UTC) reply

• Yeah, maybe ALT6:... that "book trains" carry books to patrons from the New York Public Library Main Branch's (pictured) stacks, which contain an estimated 2.5 million booksvolumes? epicgenius ( talk) 18:00, 9 October 2019 (UTC) reply

• Thanks. ALT6 verified and cited inline. Rest of review per Eddie891. Yoninah ( talk) 18:46, 9 October 2019 (UTC) reply

• Replacing the third mention of books in ALT6 with "volumes". 17:34, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

I can't believe I have to raise this, yet another editor seems to dispute what I believe is a pretty clear choice. @ Beyond My Ken: seems to be of the opinion that File:4.29.11NewYorkPublicLibraryByLuigiNovi.jpg is the best image for the article's infobox. I believe the graininess and composition of this image should immediately disqualify it from being the first and primary visual representation of an article averaging 300+ daily views. While there are many images of varying composition, style, etc that might be suitable for the infobox, I do not believe BMK's choice meets the basic technical threshold for consideration. I've included both BMK's image (numbered 1) as well as a couple alternatives I believe to be of higher quality (numbered 2-6). I am by no means wedded to any of the alternatives and would love to hear some thoughts from other editors. Filetime ( talk) 20:18, 6 June 2021 (UTC) reply

1

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6

@ Beyond My Ken and Filetime: I apologize, I accidentally misclicked and restored a previous version while trying to look at the images. I will comment on these shortly. Epicgenius ( talk) 20:50, 7 June 2021 (UTC) reply

• Keeping in mind that File:New York Public Library May 2011.JPG was the original image - I think we can agree the old image was not that good as a lead image. It's both zoomed-in and off-center, and if we have a zoomed-in image for the library building, I'd think at least we should have it centered. For me, that leaves out (6). Images (2), (4), and (5) are zoomed and centered, and of these three I think (5) is the best; however, (4) is also okay if the right edge is slightly cropped.
• As for images (1) and (3), either is fine if it would benefit readers to have a wider view of the building. I have small issues with both, but they are usable for an educational context. (1) has the car in the middle of the shot and a blemish at the lower left (I disregarded the blurriness in (1) for the purposes of this discussion). On the other hand, (3) shows other buildings pretty prominently, making the library building look somewhat less important.
• Please note that I'm not a professional photographer (or even a good amateur one) - this is merely my opinion from an aesthetic point of view. Epicgenius ( talk) 20:59, 7 June 2021 (UTC) reply

• For full transparency, I have also linked this issue from the Wikimedia NYC Discord server. Epicgenius ( talk) 15:30, 8 June 2021 (UTC) reply

• My preference is for image 3, maybe with a crop on the top and/or right to help focus on the building a little better. I am on mobile though, on vacation, so I need to look on a computer sometime again, and browse Flickr and Commons for other potential alternatives. And I can elaborate on image benefits and detractions from a technical/photographer's standpoint sometime soon... ɱ (talk) 23:46, 7 June 2021 (UTC) reply
• Lions required Only 1 and 3 show the lions. 1 is grainy and low technical quality while 3 is an acceptable quality photo. Blue Rasberry (talk) 13:49, 8 June 2021 (UTC) reply

• Comment: I have cropped (3) on the top, creating File:USA-NYC-New York Public Library2 (cropped).jpg. This image is labeled (7). Epicgenius ( talk) 15:36, 8 June 2021 (UTC) reply
• Team Lion per Bluerasberry. Though I think someone needs to take a better photo, something like (2) minus the snow plus the lions would maybe be ideal.-- Pharos ( talk) 23:47, 13 June 2021 (UTC) reply

• Speculative comment and another angle suggestion I actually think the ideal angle for a photograph might be something like this, which is off-center but gives a good view of the iconic felines. In that spirit, I offer (8) which is perhaps not the platonic ideal high-res NYPL photo, which should be elsewhere in the article, but it may be the best and most recognizable at infobox scale.-- Pharos ( talk) 16:37, 14 June 2021 (UTC) reply

It would be helpful to list the philanthropists, particularly the ones etched on the builidngs, who support NYC's leading public library. Also - how does NYPL come by its funding from New York State Public Education law, and how is that funding spent. Does NYPL pay property taxes? Does NYPL support public education in NYC? MissPhiled ( talk) 14:02, 14 December 2023 (UTC) reply

@ MissPhiled, I think that question would be more appropriate for the Talk:New York Public Library page. This is about the building, not the library system. – Epicgenius ( talk) 21:29, 10 February 2024 (UTC) reply