The Magic of Virtually Visiting the New York Public Library
Two Virtual Visits to Experience the New York Public Library
There is something a bit magical about coming to the New York Public Library and seeing the familiar Lions, Patience and Fortitude, guarding the gates of a place known as a home of eternal wisdom and humanities in the form of books, recordings, films, collections, rare manuscripts, giant archives, artifacts, and museum-like exhibits. Ascending the grand outdoor staircase, passing the fountains and huge statue of a god and goddess to the side, and entering the building is a thrill. The marble lobby is busy and filled with security, but you know you have walked into a place as historic as all the history it holds.
But how can you get there, virtually?
I discovered a terrific short video and a well-put-together audio tour that help bring this place and its history to life. This report covers a virtual video visit Architectural Digest did in conjunction with the library which is, I think, a brilliant way to have an experience of being there.
This report also covers the library’s official audio tour, which is very helpful in understanding the lay of the land and history. It may be better if experienced while walking through the library or looking at images, however, the two together can offer a fuller picture of the place.
Each can stand alone but if you only have 20 minutes, try the video.
- Hidden Secrets of the New York Public Library — A Virtual Walking Tour
Find the video here.
One of the first things we learn in the video is that the protective lions, Patience and Fortitude, were named by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who believed these were the qualities New Yorkers would need to get through the financial crisis of the 1930s.
I think the camera work on this video is well done and smooth, and the voiceovers with historians identified as Keith, Judith, and Paul offer insights into all the key areas of the building and its history as the camera glides along. They are professional but casual enough to make the viewer /listener feel that they are receiving an inside look into the library without being stuffy. There is also a written transcript.
In the overview of the outside of the building, Paul explains the meaning of the humanities sculptures seen above the massive front of the building. “If you look up, you have these sculptures by Paul Wayland Bartlett, which are allegorical sculptures, so they stand in for the various fields that would be represented by the collections of the library, so you have, going from left to right, History, Romance, Poetry, Religion, Drama, and Philosophy.”
This video presentation is filled with little details. For example, just for a sense of scope and history of this building, Judith reveals that when it was built it was built at a time when New York “was becoming one of the most important cities in the world and the city leaders realized that we needed a great library.” We also learn that this new library consolidated the Astor Library, the Lenox Library, and the New York Free Circulating Library. “When it opened on May 23rd, 1911, there were a million books there, and more than 50,000 people visited on the very first day.”
It’s produced by Architectural Digest, so you hear details such as this, from Keith: “When the building opened in 1911, it was the largest marble-clad structure in the United States, it’s about four acres worth of marble with very delicate graining, which gives it some texture.” Paul explained that the architecture is classically American and reminiscent of Thomas Jefferson’s timeless design for his home, Monticello. He explains that the style “ was a way to indicate the formality, the importance, and the publicness, of civic architecture.”
Because the voiceovers are simultaneous to what we see in the video, it makes sense while watching. For example, the camera walks the stairway and shows several famous paintings and Keith gives a historical overview. “The mural program in here is the history of the written word,” he says, pointing out that there is a depiction of Moses with the Commandments, a scribe copying text, and an image of Gutenberg as he invents movable type in metal in Europe. It also features the inventor of the Linotype machine, “which was very important to publishing and helping New York become the publishing capital of North America.”
“The way the building is designed, you would ascend the staircase, as we did, and then head into the catalog room, if we all remember card catalogs, find in the card catalog what you’re looking for, and order it,” Keith explains. “In the past, all of these walls were covered with card catalogs, and your call slip would be sent via a pneumatic tube system to the old stacks, which are below the Rose Main Reading Room. The library started cataloging electronically in 1971.”
The Rose Reading Room is one of the most famous, and largest, parts of the library. It’s considered an engineering marvel. “ It’s just about the size of a football field, almost two blocks long,” says Judith.
I especially loved hearing about the secrets of how books are stored and seeing how they are brought into the hands of the public. “When you request a book from one of the areas where the books are not on the shelves, you fill out a slip, your slip is transferred downstairs to the stacks, someone retrieves it, brings it back up, it’s brought back up in an automated trolley, and you retrieve your book from the library desk,” says Judith.
Keith adds: “The library’s collection is so big that what we keep on site are the newest and oldest pieces and the most requested pieces. To be able to hold more material on site, the library built a state-of-the-art storage center beneath Bryant Park that can hold about four million cataloged items.
And, says Paul, it, “Stretches all the way under the park, essentially out to the fountain, which is on 6th Avenue. And then there’s this long conveyor belt that transports books and manuscripts into the building itself.”
There are visuals for these comments.
Even though I have been in and outside of this building for decades, I did not know where or what everything was. I found this video offered a lot in a short amount of time. The smooth camera work with the informative voiceovers takes you on an easy-to-follow virtual journey. I am not sure if the experts are sitting at the desk narrating or if one or more of them is walking along with the camera. While this is not an official video from the Library it looks like this was done with full cooperation.
2. NYPL’s Fifth Avenue Locations: Self-Guided Audio Tour (with verbal descriptions)
The library has its own options on its website.
They have this little virtual photo tour you can watch on a phone or, with not-easy-to-see visuals, on a computer. It is not as engaging or helpful as the aforementioned Architectural Digest Video tour.
However, they have recently added audio-guided tours. This is in addition to, or instead of, taking one of their live docent-led tours.
If you scroll to the bottom of the tour page you will find this: New! Self-Guided Audio Tour
Can’t make it to a docent-led tour? Now you can take a self-guided tour on your mobile device to explore the history, architecture, and services offered at the Library’s Fifth Avenue locations. Find it all on Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.
· Download the Bloomberg Connects App
· Experience the Audio Tour Online
First, it is important to know that the main building on Fifth Avenue is now called the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, named after a Wall Street financier who donated 100 million to the library. Apparently, the Landmark Commission allowed the name of the library to be changed in a subtle way in 2008. I would not have known had I not recently stepped on the plaque on the floor right outside the entrance. Here’s some information about the name change from The New York Times.
The series of audios can be experienced on Bloomberg’s Connect or a computer, in both English and Accessible versions. If you click English, it takes you to a landing page that gives you an easy overview of the content. There is an introduction, and then there is a layout of sixteen thumbnail images that represent each audio segment. The thumbnail can be clicked on and then it will take you to an individual landing page for that particular title. You will see:
- A larger photo
- A transcript of the audio to the right, with the speaker’s names highlighted
- An audio feature that runs across the bottom of the page that you can click and listen too
“Welcome to the audio descriptive tour for the New York Public Library,” it begins. “The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street is a three-story white marble building with columns, arches, and statues composing its stately exterior.” The series is narrated by journalist and library card-carrying member, Allison Stewart. She sets the mood with this quote from Toni Morrison.: “Access to knowledge is the superb, the supreme act of truly great civilizations. Of all the institutions that purport to do this, free libraries stand virtually alone in accomplishing this mission.”
Each audio seems informative, friendly, and easy to understand. They are brief. The participants have a certain fondness for the place that comes through. I am sure a lot of work when into this, but, If you had to create a museum or humanities tour, this is an example. I don’t have all the tech skills needed but I think the essential elements are the writing, the recording, the interviews, the editing of the audio, the uploading audio, photos, and all other elements onto the website and a webpage for these things to live on so someone can reach them through a main URL. It appears the Library has adapted this into an app for the phone, too. The overall format takes time to go through and it is a bit buried on the website, but overall it seems like a user-friendly approach.
Here are the segments they offer on the tour:
100: Introduction
101: Welcome to the Stephen A. Schwarzman
102: Astor Hall
103: Original Croton Reservoir & Library Shop
104: North Corridor & Visitor Center
201: Second Floor & Creating New Knowledge
301: Third Floor & McGraw Rotunda
302: Salomon Room & the Library‘s Founding
303: Special Collections
401: Fifth Avenue
402: The Library’s Lions: Patience & Fortitude
500: The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL: NYPL’s Largest Lending Library)
501: SNFL First Floor: History & Transformation
502: SNFL Second Floor: The Nucleus of the Library
503: SNFL Lower Lever: A Dedicated Space for Kids & Teens
Summary
I think both of these virtual tools can be helpful. Combined they can give someone who has never visited the library or New York a good overview of this place that is considered a New York icon and a sacred steward of wisdom and the humanities.
-Laurie Sue Brockway, posted on May 27, 2023
