On a recent trip to new york city, booktv visited the New York Public Library where we spoke with the librarys president and ceo, anthony marx, but the history of the institution as well as its Current Operations and future. Lets start with some numbers. How big is the New York Public Library . How many employees, budget, et cetera . New York Public Library combines the largest circulating Branch Library system in america, 88 branches, in every neighborhood in the boroughs we serve, as well as for Important Research libraries. This one being the crown jewel at the center of the system but also the Schomburg Center and harlem, the library for performing arts, the lincoln said, science industry and Business Library. Have about 2100 employees. We have a budget of about 280 million a year operating about half comes from the city of new york. Largely to pay for the circulating Library System in all the neighborhoods. The other half comes from a return on a billion dollar endowment of the private foundation that employs me, the trust. And then we raced them are between 80 100 million a year. Theres also someone in the vicinity of 40 or 50 million a year of capital improvements, again mostly comes from the city but can also can come from private sources. Its an amazing system. Almost unique in the world, and combined a Great ResearchLibrary System like the library of congress and the Public Library, neighborhood system, and washington, d. C. The library of congress and the washington Public Library have nothing to do with each other organizationally. Here we are all within the New York Public Library system and its we have close to 18, 19 million physical visits a year. We have 55 million items. Its really one of the great treasures of new york and of the world. People come from all over the world to use our system. When you say items, is that about . So books is more probably in the city of 20 million. And then its archives, prints, maps, manuscripts. This building, for instance, and the sister of the Research Library, so Schaumburg Library for performing arts and civil as well, had unique items. We have the archive for manuscript of great authors, walt whitman, charles dickens, and just recently added tom wolfe. And you can walk in to this building, going to one of those special collections, show no documentation, need to have no fancy job, ask to see anything and we will make it available to you. Rather quickly. Everybody can see that . Anybody. How many of those 20 million books are available to check out and take on . So the majority of the books, something in the vicinity of 14 million books circulate. And then theres again six or 7 million books that are the core of the research collection, of course add to that is all this other material. We have one of the worlds great map collections year, a genealogy collection, but it doesnt stop and weve been collecting for over 100 years. What would the New York Public Library system mean to an average new yorker . So i think Something Like a third of new yorkers depend on the library to be able to read. Because they cant or dont afford books. Something like a third of new yorkers depend on the New York Public Library for having computer access because they dont have broadband or computers at home. He can even apply for job in this day and age without having that kind of access. So theres a core of folks, especially in the poorer neighborhoods, who absolutely depend on us to read, to go online, or to have a quiet place to sit, to read, to think, to write, to great. So thats very powerful stuff. And its also true in the better off neighborhoods of new york at every seat is filled. The New York Public Library has never seen more traffic, meaning people coming in, more books circulating, more computers, more Educational Programs in our 100 your history. We are at our peak. Thats incredible, at some budget cuts because of Financial Difficulties since 2008 obviously, and city finances. We havent got our branches but, in fact, we have more branches family have ever had because every neighborhood wants one. We havent cut our hours and we have more use than ever. Thats the way its experienced for most new yorkers. I grew up using my local neighborhneighborh ood library in a part of new york called inwood. 2030,000 kids come into our branches after school every day. Its safe. They do homework. They use the computer can actually we have now launched for the first time in our history after school programs. We aim to become the largest Afterschool Program possibly in the nation because we have the kids coming in and because Everybody Needs more help on education. All that is part of the experience of the library. People dont know this, we are the leading free provider in new york of englishlanguage construction. New york is have immigrant. We teach citizenship. We are the leading free provider in your cup basic computer skills training. We will be at 150,000 people enjoying those programs. Wwere also now starting to teah coding so that kids and the south bronx or harlem the want to get jobs in the Information Technology industry can come to the library. We are the leading nonuniversity partner with the Online EducationUniversity Program so that people can come into the libraries and have Group Sessions and will find instructions for them so that they are not trying to learn only online. Were doing the same thing with khan academy. So Educational Programs, quiet places, opportunities to read, to take out books and to use computers. Thats just in the circlet hybrid which is the majority of where our people are coming into. And then theres the Research Library where people come from all over the world who are writing books doing research to use up archives, are mature would also instead of incredible most beautiful spaces in new york. Youll find every seat is filled. Why do you think the new Public Library is at its apex because i think there are a bunch of reasons. One, i think after the economy had its difficulties in 2008, more people are becoming particularly to the branches because they couldnt afford an extra room or quiet at home or air conditioning or computers or books. So theres partly uneconomic driver. I think thats not all thats going on. I think as it is increasingly possible to do more of the work of the mind alone in front of the screen, the more people actually want to come in and be with each other. We are human beings. We dont want to just sit in a cave by ourselves and even a cave with a screen. We want to actually be inspired by beautiful spaces, by seeing other people who are working, inaccurate if we do our job right we want you to find the other people who were in the room working on the same thing and you may not know they are there. Community is still part, a powerful part of human nature. And the library is the centerpiece, the foundation of that in the world of ideas and information, in any city or town, and certainly in this one. Which happens to be the capital of the information age. Do you serve all of new york city . So this system is three boroughs. I didnt even notice when i took this job. So this is manhattan, Staten Island and the bronx. Brooklyn and queens which were once separate cities have separate Public Library systems. We cooperate very closely with them and coordinate and try to do things together as it should be. So for instance, we became recently in effect the circulating library to support the Public School system of new york. So for 100 years we lived sidebyside but didnt actually with the cooperate. And for 100 years the Public Schools depended for their libraries in a room the size with maybe 10,000 books, increasingly out of date, and a card catalog. A sweet idea, one i grew up with, but in the 21st century that cant possibly work. Now were at about 600 schools. We aim to be at all of them with computers in the library or a teacher can order up to 100 bucks at a time from our 17 million books. The three systems together, and we will deliver right to the school. So you get the efficiency of these huge system spreading around the city, and thats an example of how ultimately 1. 2 million schoolkids will be using the library on a daily basis. Teachers to assign a paper will be able to construct their own Great Library on that topic in the classroom for the month at the paper is being worked on, and then send it back to another classroom doing that paper topic later. So we are increasingly serving all new yorkers, and doing it across all five boroughs in cooperation with our peers and friends at brooklyn and queens. Whats the history of the new york public labor . The new Public Library began in 1895, as the coming together of three private libraries created by wealthy new yorkers, astor, lenox and killing. They of private library. They said lets make it a double to the public. They came together and ultimately constructed this building to house the Research Libraries that were their libraries coming put together. Fastforward 15 years and along comes the richest man in the world at the time, andrew carnegie. Andrew carnegie had grown up poor and had grown up depending on the library as really is school, and so many people all around the world, and certainly new yorkers have. And he said lets create a great public certainly library in new york. He gave a gift for the three libraries i think was about 5 million or thereabouts to great 60 libraries, the beginning of the Public Library system. It was and remains the largest single gift in the history of philanthropy in todays libraries, billions. So because of his generosity he made a deal with the city where he said look, i will build you libraries. The city needs to pay to operate them as a public service, the Branch Libraries, and i will ask, carnegie will ask the New York Public Library and brooklyn and queens to operate them as private agencies funded by the city to do so, but with some independence. Its a complicated publicprivate partnership. In our case it means literally half of our budget comes from the city and have comes from private sources. But it think it actually serves the public will. It creates interesting checks and balances. Makes my life a little more complicated but thats a good thing. Since that history, so what started with 60 Branch Libraries in the city of new york, the three systems together now, all the city, we are at i think 205 branches plus the four Research Libraries. Whats the history of this building were in . This building is 103 years old. It was constructed with the support of the citizens of new york as well as private dollars but it was built to be the new Public Library. I think its fair to say its the most Famous Library building in the world. Those lines out front, everybody knows. It was built in wrestling on patience and fortitude. It was built on the original reservoir of nuke city. So before the library was built, a little over 100 years ago, there was on this whole anywhere the library and the park behind it, so all that every in midtown was the reservoir. It was built to because it was the highest point in the town. So as you can imagine that helps with gravity sending water around t wherever it needs to go from the reservoir. They took the reservoir down. They built the library and build the park and then actually about 25 years ago, we excavated under the park down to the foundation, 37 feet down of the reservoir and build their the largest basement in the island of manhattan, which weve used half of for the last 25 years, and our plans are in the coming months to put 3 million more votes under that space. Its a sort of amazing gift of history, that the reservoir was here that created the basement and the foresight of the trustees of the library to create that space. Imagine being able to find storage for 3 million more books at 42nd street and fifth avenue. Probably the place of the most expensive and demanded real estate in the world. Libraries are always looking for more space, and we havent because of that amazing history and that reservoir. Walking through this library, so many of the rooms in areas are named after people. Sure. Look, as i said we are very grateful to our private donors. Last year we raised about 100 million just in that year of coming and. That makes the library work. It pays in large part for the Research Side of the library, and increasingly private dollars are also going to add Education Programs in the branches, which is great. But were happy to recognize the generosity of our donors. I was a College President before this. We certainly did at amherst, and that most colleges and universities i know. Not only is it a way to say thank you, its also a way to encourage other people to think about becoming more serious philanthropists. Interestingly, mr. Carnegie is one of things you dont find even though historically he was our largest benefactor. That was just who he was. Who is on the board of directors of the foundation . Is there a separate board of directors for the labor . Know. So for the Library Board is the astor, lenox, Tilden Foundation board as it is known as, the trustees of the new Public Library. The chairman of the board current is neil rubenstein, president of harvard, provost of princeton. Vicechairman includes evan chesser, champion of one of the great law firms in your. Abby milstein is the of the vice chair from the great new york family. Weve got Toni Morrison and david remnick, editor of the new yorker, skip gates from harvard, and people who come from all Different Industries and academics. George stephanopoulos and anthony of higher, previously of princeton, major scholar coming in, and why you, when the most recent additions to the board. I mean, its a great mix which is what you wanted to be. Lets put it this way. What makes new york amazing . What makes america amazing . Its the mix of people. The mix of background, talent, experience us. The library is the place where the mix of people comes together with all the information and ideas of the world. It has always been the most explosive of combinations. Its where creativity comes from. A library is the foundation of that. Its where everyone can do that and does do that. In new york as an elsewhere in the country, and the trustees similarly are this great mix of experience and bring their ideas to provide the stewardship and leadership of this institution. You talked about nuke city being the apex for use consider. And was it not . When was it at its lowest . We have some very rough days. So one of my predecessors came here as president in 1981. Much of this building was closed. Beautiful rooms that are not open to the public used as back offices and storage. Bryant park was best known as a drug den. It was not a safe place to be. Under his 12 year presidency, brooke astor, major society figure, joined with them, the high School Chairman of the board, had been ceo of time life, the dominant corporation in the media world. Today, together, and with gregorians incredible leadership really turned the place around, opened the space as backup, found more resources for this building, for all the other buildings, ma did the renovation of bryant park and turn into what is now i think per square inch the most incredible urban park in the world. On a sunny day and now in the summer, its chockablock, just like the labor is chockablock. So there were dark days and we turned it around. Im sure that been other dark days but thats the one i remember because i lived through it. I remember when my Branch Libraries were closed too many days of the week. We have still had some rough times but this Library System, the libraries of new york have seen a 17 reduction in city funding over the last six years. Were just coming out of that. Working with the mayor, with the city council to see if we can restore more of that city funding so we can do more for new yorkers and again for people who, from all over the world. Out to you an example of something we hope to do. So this building, this collection of some of the most Amazing Things in the world, in my opinion. We have the original declaration of independence in jeffersons hand with the slave trade paragraph crossed out. We have one of the original copies George Washington had drawn up of the bill of rights to get it ratified. We have the only copy in the world of the original, the oldest copy of the letter from Christopher