New York City is served by three public library systems:  The New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Library.

The New York Public Library (NYPL), serving Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island, is one of the world’s great library systems.  It consists of research collections (for reference only, and organized as The Research Libraries, with four major centers) and the community circulating libraries (organized as The Local Branch Libraries).

NYPL Research Libraries are:

• Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Ave. at 42^nd St., 212-930-0830

• The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, 212-870-1630.  This Library has a branch library section of circulating books, recordings, etc. on performing arts.

• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd., 212-491-2200

• Science, Industry & Business Library (SIBL), 188 Madison Ave. between 34^th St. & 35^th St., 212-592-7000.  SIBL has a branch library section of circulating books, videos, etc.

Research Library collections are non-circulating and are available for on-site use only.

Use CATNYP online catalog (http://catnyp.nypl.org/) to look up Research Library holdings.  Some older material must be looked up in print retrospective catalogs.  For circulating books at SIBL and at the branch Library of the Performing Arts, use the LEO catalog (http://leopac.nypl.org/). 

IMPORTANT:  The Research Libraries now require an ACCESS card when submitting call slips.  You can fill out the application for an ACCESS card online in advance of your visit.  See http://nypl.org/research/general/access.html for details.

NYPL Local Branch Libraries include:

• Mid-Manhattan Library, 455 Fifth Avenue at 40^th St., 212-340-0863; For Art, Education, Health, History, Job information Center, Literature, Picture Collection.

• Donnell Library Center, 20 W. 53rd St., 212-621-0618; For Foreign Languages book collection, Media Center, Children’s and Young Adult collections and more.

• Muhlenberg Branch, 209 W. 23rd St. near Seventh Ave., 212-924-1585; Branch closest to FIT.

Many of the 82 other branch libraries have collections that reflect the ethnic groups and culture of the neighborhood that surrounds them.  For example, the Chatham Square Regional Branch Library has materials both in Chinese and English on China, NYC’s Chinatown, and Chinese Americans.

RESEARCH TIP:   Get your NYPL branch library card now so you have it ready when you need it.  Local Branch Libraries have circulating books and other materials that can be borrowed with a NYPL Branch Libraries’ card.  This card is free to anyone who lives, works, pays property taxes, or attends school in New York State.  Use your FIT ID card prove your connection to New York.  You may apply at any branch library; the closest to FIT is the Muhlenberg Branch at 209 W. 23rd St. near Seventh Avenue.  Check the NYPL FAQ section on library cards at http://www.nypl.org/about/faq.html#cards for details.  Your library card also allows you to place a hold online for books and/or videos you need and have them sent to your most convenient branch library.  Your card gives you remote access to selected electronic databases, many with full text, supplementing FIT’s Digital Library databases. See NYPL's "Databases and Indexes Online" at http://www.nypl.org/databases and select “Databases available from home.”

Use LEO online catalog (http://leopac.nypl.org/) to look up holdings in Branch Libraries, including the circulating books at SIBL and at the branch Library of the Performing Arts. 

TIP:  If you select Expanded Search in LEO, you can simultaneously search the holdings of the Branch Libraries (LEO), the Research Libraries (CATNYP), the Brooklyn Public Library, and/or the Queens Library.

Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Library, although not described in detail here, are very large library systems with wonderful collections.  Check out their websites for more information.

TIP:   New York Public Library branch libraries, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Library have reciprocal agreements which allow full borrowing privileges, including reserves and renewals, among the three library systems. For example, with your NYPL branch library card, you can borrow books and other items from the Brooklyn Public and the Queens Libraries. You must pick up the items from a library in the system that owns the materials and return borrowed items to any branch of the library system from which it was borrowed. For example, you must return items borrowed from a Brooklyn Public Library to any other Brooklyn Public Library branch; you may not return these items to an NYPL or Queens Library branch. Registration for reciprocal use may be required. 

• The FIT Library belongs to a consortium of New York City regional area libraries called METRO, the Metropolitan New York Library Council.   METRO members include many academic, museum, research, and special libraries.  The Reference Faculty can issue you a METRO referral pass to visit a METRO member library for an item that is not owned by the FIT Library or the New York Public Library.  You may also apply for a METRO pass to visit a library with strong subject strength in your area of interest.  All METRO referrals are for on-site use only.  Inquire at the Reference Desk.
   

• As an FIT student, you have full access to other SUNY libraries.  You must bring your currently valid FIT ID card.  You can borrow circulating books from any SUNY library.
   

• The FIT Library is also a member of the  Research Libraries Group (RLG) Shares Program.   Through this program, FIT students have access to other member libraries outside of the New York City regional area.  [For NYC area libraries, which have membership in both METRO and RLG, METRO rules prevail (see METRO information above).]  RLG members include academic, museum, and other research libraries, such as Yale, Princeton, the Getty Research Institute, and King’s College London.  See the RLG SHARES Partner Contacts for a complete list.  You must present a currently valid FIT ID.   Access is for on-site use only.

REMEMBER:  For suggestions on which other libraries might best serve your needs, ask a Reference Librarian (4^th floor Reference Desk,  212-217-4400, or email http://www3.fitnyc.edu/library/forms/ref_request/ask_librarian.htm).