About
This page contains a selected list of historic Library publications offering a place to start exploring departmental reports, staff news, and institutional histories in our collections. If you are researching individuals who may have worked at the 42nd Street Library, these publications are also recommended resources for potential information about the activities of past staff members.
Subject headings are one way to get started with materials on this topic in the Research Catalog. Here are some useful terms to get you started:
Bulletin & Biblion
Bulletin of the New York Public Library.
This link opens in a new window
Call Number: *HND (New York Public Library. Bulletin)Publication Date: 1897-1977This periodical is a valuable reference on the Library's history and collection. Biblion: The Bulletin of The New York Public Library, published semi-annually since 1992, is the Bulletin's successor. The majority of the Bulletin of the New York Public Libraryis available digitally via Haithitrust.
Bulletin of Research in the Humanities.- This link opens in a new window
Call Number: *R-RMRR Z881 .N6BPublication Date: 1978-1986This publication is a continuation of Bulletin published quarterly most years between 1978 and 1986. This new title was intended to put "greater emphasis on research" and connect an emerging community of scholars with the Library. These are digitally available in HathiTrust but labeled as issues of the Bulletin of the New York Public Library.
Biblion : the Bulletin of the New York Public Library.Call Number: *HND (NYPL) 92-1277Publication Date: 1992-2001The Bulletin's successor, the Biblion was published semi-annually and offers pieces on the Library's history, collections, and personalities. Its Spring 1995 edition, which features key details on the Library, is especially recommended.
Library Histories in Bulletin & Biblion
Since SASB opened its doors in 1911, staff have meticulously documented the history of the institution, the collections, the divisions, and more. This box highlights some notable histories of the Library that have appeared in the Bulletin of the New York Public Library and, its successor, Biblion.
- The Library Relating to Tobacco, collected by George Arents
- This link opens in a new window
Bulletin of the New York Public Library, 48 (Jan 1944): 3-15 - The Library's Map Division Goes to War, 1941-45Biblion: The Bulletin of the New York Public Library, Volume 3, Number 02: 126-147
- The 1897 New York Public Library Competition and the Beaux-Arts TraditionBiblion: The Bulletin of the New York Public Library, Volume 9, Number 01-02
- A Hundred Years of Historical and Biographical Writing about the New York Public Library: A Centennial BibliographyBiblion: The Bulletin of the New York Public Library, Volume 3, Number 02: 148-75
- Opportunities for Service: The Library School of the New York Public Library, 1911-1926Biblion: The Bulletin of the New York Public Library 1 (Spring 1993): 140-67
Books
History of the New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations by 
This link opens in a new window
Call Number: *R-RMRR Z733 .N59 1923Publication Date: 1923The Lydenberg History provides a thorough account of 19th century New York City libraries, their consolidation into a unified system, and the construction of NYPL’s Central Library. It first appeared as a series in the Bulletin of the New York Public Library
The New York Public Library : A Universe of Knowledge by Call Number: Pub. Cat. Z733.N6 D35 2000ISBN: 1857592344Publication Date: 2000-07-08This richly illustrated popular history tells the story of the 42nd Street Library: how it came to be, how it grew and developed its unique character, and how it came to be an essential resource for generations of New Yorkers and researchers from around the world. See The Phyllis Dain Papers in the New York Public Library Archives for more on Phyllis Dain and her contribution to the Library's historical record.
The New York Public Library : A History of its Founding and Early Years by - This link opens in a new window
Call Number: Pub. Cat. Z733 .N59 1972ISBN: 0871041367Publication Date: 1972This publication is an independent, thoroughly documented history of the early Library and its predecessor institutions, described in a social and political context. See The Phyllis Dain Papers in the New York Public Library Archives for more on Phyllis Dain and her work documenting the Library's history.
Peculiar Questions and Practical Answers by Call Number: 031.02 PPublication Date: 2019In Peculiar Questions and Practical Answers, the staff of the NYPL has dug through the archives to find thoughtful and often witty answers to over one hundred of the oddest, funniest, and most whimsical questions the library has received since it began record-keeping over seventy-five years ago.
The New York Public Library Desk ReferenceCall Number: JFF 99-2803Publication Date: 2002-11-20Fully updated with more than 1,000 pages, The New York Public Library Desk Reference is packed with answers to the most frequently asked questions, as well as easy-to-read charts, graphs, and tables, insightful sidebars, full-color maps, and illustrations, plus cross-references and web addresses to aid more in-depth research.
From the Public Relations Office
The New York Public Library Press ClippingsCall Number: Pub Cat. (complete), *ZAN-5823 (microform)Publication Date: 1970-2003The Bill Blass Public Catalog Room of the New York Public Library houses various uncataloged books. These include The New York Public Library News Clippings, a collection of newspaper articles about the Library primarily from newspapers in the New York metropolitan area; an introductory volume contains selected clippings from 1896 to 1969, with subsequent volumes covering later years more comprehensively.
Library Lines / The New York Public Library NewsCall Number: *HND (NYPL) 78-1493Publication Date: 1970-2004This periodical, prepared by the Public Relations Office, New York Public Library, was released semi-annually between 1970-74; and quarterly, 1975-82. The title varies between The New York Public Library News, used in the fall of 1970- summer of 1978, and Library Lines, 1978-1982.