Into the Lions' Den (Assignment)

More than two weeks ago, my (Composition I) classmates and I went on our second field-trip of this semester. That Wednesday morning we toured two facilities, the Mid-Manhattan Library and The New York Public Library. Our professor, Dr. Smith, instructed us to break up into groups for an hour long exploration of Mid-Manhattan, before returning to our rendezvous point on the steps of NYPL. Same as during our first field-trip to AMNH, I partnered with my good colleagues Zina and Ana, but that morning we welcomed a new member to our ragtag outfit, Sandy.

Of the five different floors within Mid-Manhattan, our group began browsing (as per Dr. Smith's instructions) the selections on the 1st floor. Among the sections we visited was 'non-fiction'. The 'non-fiction' section had a number of specially designated shelves. The 'New York Times Bestsellers List' shelf contained a number of popular titles like Barack Obama's, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance and Hillary Clinton's, Living History. They had a shelf for 'Oprah's Book Club'; no James Frey, regretfully. We also saw a section for film and TV titles on VHS and DVD; among them, one of my childhood favorites, Darby O'Gill and the Little People.

The 2nd floor of Mid-Manhattan contained book titles with subjects pertaining to employment, education, and health, to name a few. Most of the subject-material on that floor was of little interest to our group. However, I took notice of one particular work, Carter G. Woodson's, The Mis-Education of the Negro.

Much to our dismay, our tour of Mid-Manhattan came to a close on its 3rd floor, but not before I spotted a book about artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in the art-collection wing of the library.

We crossed back over 5th Ave. to rejoin our classmates, who were gathered on the front steps of NYPL, first, for a brief photo in front of one of the library's two marble lion statues (named, Fortitude); second, to embark on our guided tour of the library, itself.

We filed into the building, and waited for our tour guide to meet us. While waiting, we surveyed the area in which we stood, and took stock of its sheer beauty. The lobby of NYPL is named Astor Hall, in tribute to tycoon, philanthropist, and NYPL co-founder, John Jacob Astor. With magnificent archways, Astor Hall has the names of other Gilded Age philanthropists (i.e. Rockefeller, Carnegie, etc.) embossed in gold on the surface of its white marble walls.

A few minutes later, our guide turned up. He introduced himself to us as Phil, and he was accompanied by his colleague, Naomi.

From there, we proceeded into a room (whose name I can't remember) that provided us with a glimpse of the library's closed shelves, or stacks, which contain somewhere between two to four million selections of books. The construct of the shelves is especially unique, as each of its levels are buttressed by their metal (titanium, if I'm not mistaken) framework; some of which extend below Bryant Park. Most of NYPL's "collections" are housed in these shelves, and the requests for those books are delivered through a series of pneumatic tubes (like in New Jack City), which are received by the library's Pages, who then retrieve the requested materials.

In addition to learning about the intricate details of its delivery system, a number of historical facts and figures about NYPL were shared with us: its Beaux-Arts architectural design, its Billings (as opposed to Dewey) classification system, named after the library's first director, Dr. John Shaw Billings.

More to follow...I swear