NYC Libraries

American Craft Council Library
www.craftcouncil.org/library
As a program of the American Craft Council, the library maintains a comprehensive collection of print and visual materials on American craft with an emphasis on the period since 1940.

American Folk Art Museum Library (Shirley K. Schlafer Library)
folkartmuseum.org
A non-circulating research collection providing comprehensive coverage in areas of primary interest to the museum as well as for related fields, such as early American fine and decorative arts, European folk art and non-Western art, and the arts of the African diaspora.

American Museum of Natural History Library
library.amnh.org/
Topics span the full range of the natural sciences except botany. It also includes the astronomy collection, transferred from the Hayden Planetarium in 1997. Library's holdings are comprised of a research collection, special collections, and digital collections.

Anthology Film Archives
anthologyfilmarchives.org/facilities/library
Avant-garde, independent and classic film, video and performance art.

Archives of American Art-Smithsonian Institution
aaa.si.edu
A national research institution, whose purpose is to collect documentary source materials on American artists, collectors, dealers and museums, owns over five thousand collections of letters, diaries, sketches and sketchbooks, photographs, exhibition catalogs, scrapbooks, business records, art periodicals, and other types of documents, totaling roughly fourteen million items. The collections range from the mid-18th century to the present day, but strong in 1900-1950s.

Brooklyn Art Reference Library
brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/archives/
Open to the public, the Brooklyn Museum Libraries and Archives offer non-circulating resources to serve the needs of students, scholars, etc. The fine arts are well represented, with research material on painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, photography, decorative arts, costumes, and textiles. The research collections also cover anthropology, archaeology, and ethnology with resources in various formats.

Brooklyn Public Library
brooklynpubliclibrary.org/
Art, architecture, costume, decorative arts, film, theater. Circulating picture file on general imagery and art.

City College of New York (Rudderman Architecture Library)
ccny.cuny.edu/library/
General architecture collection stresses twentieth century architecture, New York Metropolitan area and Third World architecture, landscape architecture.

Columbia University (Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library)
columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/avery/
Collects books and periodicals in architecture, historic preservation, art history, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, city planning, real estate, and archaeology.

Fashion Institute of Technology (Gladys Marcus Library)
fitnyc.edu/library
A fully integrated library system with over 130,000 volumes, over 400 current journals and serials, and an extensive collection of electronic resources, monographs, rare books, microforms, and other non-print formats. The Library has traditional holdings in the arts and humanities, as well as resources that provide professional aspects of the fashion business and the study of design.

Frick Art Reference Library
frick.org/library
Art from the 4th century A.D. to the twentieth century, including manuscript illumination. Large collection of auction and exhibition catalogs. In-house periodical index and photograph collection with artist, subject, and collection access.  Also include large microfilm collection and electronic resources.

Graduate Center of the City University of New York
library.gc.cuny.edu
Includes 276,000 volumes, 479,00 microforms, and 1640 current print serials subscriptions. Collection strengths are in the humanities and social sciences with more modest holdings in the sciences.

Grolier Club Library
grolierclub.org
Devoted to the arts of the book. Collections include bookseller and auction catalogs from the 17th century. The Library is also rich in works documenting the history of printing, typography, and graphic design and owns a small but choice group of illuminated manuscripts, as well as representative examples of incunabula.

International Center of Photography Library
icp.org/library
Houses an extensive collection of photobooks, periodicals, artist files, and digital resources. Open to staff, faculty, ICP Members, and ICP Students during regular hours. It is open to the public by appointment.

Library of the Jewish Theology Seminary
jtsa.edu/library
Home to more than 400,000 volumes of Hebraic and Judaic material. Also on view in the exhibition area are photographs, paintings, drawings, sculpture, and works in collage, metal, wood, and fabric, all created by students, faculty, and staff.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries & Study Centers
www.metmuseum.org/research/libraries-and-study-centers
A non-circulating collection of books and periodicals open to graduate students, university faculty, and art professionals with ID. The library contains approximately 450,000 titles (books, periodicals, exhibition catalogues, and auction and sale catalogues); 2,500 current serial subscriptions; collections of autograph letters; and extensive ephemeral files relating to individual artists and to the history of the Metropolitan Museum. Electronic Information Resources are available at the Lita Annenberg Hazen and Joseph H. Hazen Center, located in Thomas J. Watson Library, which provides access to an extensive collection of CD-ROMs, online journals, and indexed Internet resources for the history of art, as well as training and support in the use.

Uris Library and Resource Center
education@metmuseum.org
General art appreciation and history reference collection, strongest in art education at the elementary and high school level. The library houses most of the MMA’s permanent collection catalogs, recent exhibition catalogs and the complete run of MMA’s Bulletins and Journals. A wide range of non-print materials (films, videotapes and CD-ROMs) as well as teacher packets and lesson plans are also available.

The Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art
Makes available for inspection with research facilities American fine art and decorative art objects (oil paintings, sculpture, furniture and woodwork, glass, ceramics, and metalwork) that are not currently on view in the Museum galleries and period rooms or on loan to other institutions.

The Robert Goldwater Library
goldwater.library@metmuseum.org
The Robert Goldwater Library is dedicated to the documentation of the arts of Africa, the Pacific Islands, and native and pre-Columbian America. The library contains more than 30,000 volumes and 150 current periodical subscriptions.

The Photograph Study Collection
More than 120,000 photographs dedicated to the arts of Africa, the Pacific Islands, and native and pre-Columbian America are available. Both nineteenth- and twentieth-century images are included; among them are photographs showing the cultural context of art and photographs of individual works in public and private collections.

Cloisters Library and Archives
cloisters.library@metmuseum.org
This collection in medieval art and related topics contains thirteen thousand volumes encompasses medieval architecture, tapestries, painting, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass, sculpture, ivories, and metalwork. Works on medieval history and the medieval garden are also collected. The archives contain material relating to the history of The Cloisters, as well as the papers of Sumner McKnight Crosby (1909–1982; medieval art historian, Yale University), the papers of Harry Bober (1915–1988; medieval art historian, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University), and other research collections.

Irene Lewison Costume Reference Library
costume.library@metmuseum.org
This collection includes approximately thirty thousand books and periodicals, as well as design archives, sketchbooks, photographs, slides, drawings, prints, videotapes, and extensive files of clippings pertaining to the history and study of the arts of adornment throughout the world.

Study Rooms for Drawings and Prints
The Metropolitan Museum's more than four thousand master drawings, more than ten thousand architectural and ornamental drawings, more than one million prints by virtually every master printmaker who has ever practiced, and extensive holdings of illustrated books and printed ephemera can be pulled from storage for examination by qualified researchers in this study rooms. The study rooms also contain an extensive reference library of books on the history of prints and drawings.

Robert Lehman Collection Library
lehman.library@metmuseum.org
Collection comprised of 23,000 books given to the library by Mrs. Lehmam, additional books purchased. Vertical files, manuscripts, photographs and archives pertaining to the collection. Developing a study center for Sienese painting, Italian Maiolico, and the history of frames, furniture and illuminated manuscripts.

Joyce F. Menschel Photography Library
mia.fineman@metmuseum.org
The collection contains more than six thousand volumes relating to the history of photography and the Museum's collection of photographs.

Study Room for Photographs
Most of the Museum's collection (approximately fifteen thousand photographs spanning the entire history of the medium, including four hundred photographically illustrated books and albums) are eligible for firsthand inspection in the study room.

Antonio Ratti Textile Center and Reference Library
RattiTextile.Center@metmuseum.org
Diverse collection with more than 36,000 objects dating from 3000 B.C. to the present. Objects from the collection can be examined in the center's study rooms with advance appointments (size or extreme fragility may make it impossible to view certain textiles). The center's reference library contains approximately 3,400 books and journals devoted to the historical, technical, and cultural study of textiles. A database of digital images and descriptive information about the Museum's textiles is available on the center's computer terminals.

Museum of Modern Art Library Manhattan/Queens & Study Centers
library.moma.org / library@moma.org
Art, architecture, photography, graphic arts, design, film, video, artist’s books, performance art, intermedia, covering the period from about 1880 to the present. Large exhibition catalogs, artist and subject files.

Architecture and Design Study Center
adsc@moma.org
The Lily Auchincloss Study Center for Architecture and Design allows researchers access to reference materials related to the Museum's collection of design objects, posters, architectural drawings, and models.

Erna & Victor Hasselblad Photography Study Center
psc@moma.org
Extensive photography library and collections of photography for viewing.

The Drawings Study Center
dsc@moma.org
Most of the Museum's 6,000 works on paper--including a special collection of drawings related to the theater arts--are available for researchers and students. In addition, files and photo albums covering each work in the collection may be consulted.

The Painting and Sculpture Study Center
pssc@moma.org
The Joseph and Sylvia Slifka Painting and Sculpture Study Center maintains files on more than 3,400 paintings and sculptures in the Museum's collection. Material on individual works may include archival photographs, label and catalog texts, press clippings, press releases, and correspondence.

Film Study Center
fsc@moma.org
This Film study center offers equipment for viewing films from the Museum's collection; a large selection of screenplays and dialogue continuities; extensive files of reviews, articles, and program notes; reference books; special collections; film indexes; and current periodicals.

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Print Room
pibsc@moma.org
More than 40,000 prints from the Museum's collection, as well as a library of print-related books, catalogs (including catalogue raisonnés), and periodicals, are accessible to students and researchers at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Print Room.

Museum Archives
archives@moma.org
Institutional records concerning the history of the museum; papers of Alfred H. Barr, Rene d’ Harnoncourt, A. Conger Goodyear, Dorothy C. Miller, Frank O’Hara, James Thrall Soby and others.  Also collects twentieth-century manuscript material, including: correspondence, typescripts, photographs, ephemera and other unpublished primary source material generated by organizations or individuals important to the history of twentieth-century art and reflecting the Museum's expertise and/or interest.

The New Museum of Contemporary Art Resource Center
newmuseum.org
Located on the fifth floor, the Resource Center offers New Museum visitors books, catalogues, magazines, and digital materials on international contemporary art and culture as well as publications related to current exhibitions. New Museum publications and the Digital Archive, which documents past New Museum exhibitions and programs, are also available in the Resource Center. The Digital Archive, launching soon, offers an invaluable resource to researchers, scholars, and general audiences, making available out-of-print publications, hard-to-find images and information, and previously unpublished exhibition details. The Resource Center is equipped with five computers and has space for reading and research.

New York Historical Society
nyhistory.org
Collection strengths include local history of New York City and State; colonial history; the Revolutionary War; American military and naval history; religions and religious movements, 18th and 19th century; the Anglo-American slave trade and conditions of slavery in the United States; the Civil War; American biography and genealogy; American art and art patronage; the development of American architecture from the late 18th to the present; and 19th and 20th century portraiture and documentary photographs of New York City.

Institute of Fine Arts, NYU - Stephen Chan Library
nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart
Art History, Western and Oriental; Archeology, Classical and Egyptian; architecture.

Institute of Fine Arts, NYU - Library of the Conservation Center
Daniel.biddle@nyu.edu
Historical and technical information on the conservation of works of art in all media.

Queens College, City University of New York, Benjamin J. Rosenthal Library
qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/Library
Anthropology (archaeology); Communication Arts and Sciences (photography, video, computer art) Drama, Theater, and Dance (costume, stage design); Education (art education); Family, Nutrition, and Exercise Sciences (design, decorative arts, textiles, fashion); History (cultural history); Honors in the Western Tradition (cultural history); Journalism (art criticism, design illustration); Urban Studies (urbanism, city planning, architecture); Language, literature and culture departments (Asian, Classical, English, European, Hispanic); Interdisciplinary and special studies programs (Africana, American, Asian, Byzantine and Modern Greek, Irish, Italian-American, Jewish, Latin American, Puerto Rican); Graduate School of Library and Information Studies (art librarianship, reference); Special collections; pamphlets; Rare Books; Non-print collections: pictures, slides, microform

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Library
guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/library-and-archives/library-resources
Contains published resources that reflect and inform Museum collections and exhibitions, with particular focus on modern and contemporary art, architecture, and photography. Collections include global Guggenheim exhibition catalogues, rare books, the Hilla Rebay Library, as well as an actively growing collection of artist monographs, art criticism and theory, reference materials, and periodicals.

Staten Island Institute of the Arts and Sciences Library
statenislandmuseum.org
Staten Island history, art, and science; architecture, land use, local genealogy. 65,000 books and periodicals in natural history, art, and history; 5,550 title in environmental education.

New York Public Library
nypl.org/locations
You will need a library card to borrow materials from branch libraries, use online databases.

Donnell Library Center
The NYPL branch system's largest circulating collection in reference book, circulating film and video collection. Viewing facilities for films and videos. Largest circulating collection of materials in languages other than English.

Mid-Manhattan Library
General, circulating collection of art books, fine and applied arts. Reference collection of art history and artist monographs, vertical files. Art periodicals. Largest circulating and reference collections in the branch libraries.

New York Public Library-The Research Library
Collections and divisions include art and architecture, Asian and Middle Eastern, Jewish, maps, US history, local history and genealogy, Slavic and Baltic as well as special collections in manuscripts and archives, prints, photography and rare books.

Art & Architecture Division at Humanities and Social Science Library
Art, art history, architecture and decorative arts, covering prehistoric to contemporary periods. Research level collection of art historical monographs in western European languages. Sale and auction catalog compilations. 100,000 artists’ files on microfilm. Selected electronic resources available.

New York Public Library at Lincoln Center-Performing Arts Research Center
Open to those above high school age only. Research Center materials intended for use by professionals, specialists and advanced students, and must be consulted in the library.

Billy Rose Theatre Collection
From street corner to stage to studio, drama, musical theatre, film, television, radio and popular entertainment (circus, magic, vaudeville, puppetry).

Jerome Robbins Dance Division
The art of dance in all its manifestations—ballet, ethic, modern, social and folk.  It preserves the history of dance by gathering diverse written, visual and aural resources.

Music Division
Music in all its diversity—opera, spirituals, ragtime, jazz, musical comedy, orchestral, rock and pop music.  Contains many scores and manuscripts from centuries past.  Particularly noteworthy in American music collection from Native American songs to manuscripts of Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Louis Moreau Gottschalk and others.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Largest collection in the country of books on black Culture and Art; research collection containing African Art, American Art by Black artists, Afro- Caribbean art and artifacts.

Science, Industry and Business Library
Advertising, Astronomy; Banks and Banking, Biotechnology, Business and Commerce; Chemistry, Computers and Computer Science; Earth Sciences, Economics, Engineering; Environmental Science; Finance, Food Sciences and Technology; General Science; History of Science; Industrial Relations, Insurance, International Trade; Management, Marketing, Materials Science; Mathematics; Patents and Trademarks, Personnel Management; Public Relations; Real Estate, Robotics; Small Business, Statistics; Textile Industry, Trade and Technologies, Transportation; Unions, Urban Affairs; Zoology. Over 100 different electronic databases are available free-of-charge for use in the Electronic Information Center (EIC) within the library.