The Original Mid-Manhattan Library

During the 70s, If your college library was as lousy as mine you probably spent a lot of time at the Mid-Manhattan Library researching term papers.

When it first opened on 40 Street off of 5th Ave, diagonally across from the famous flagship library (the one with the lions), Mid-Manhattan consisted of the 4th and 5th floors of an industrial building. You entered via a scruffy elevator. Here was where the New York Public Library had its big collection of business, art and social studies materials. Instead of the card catalogues popular at the time, the NYPL indexed its collections in a series of huge paperback catalogues resembling phone books. There was a set for Subjects, another for Names and a third for Titles. Each entry was followed by a set of codes which told you where in the system the book could be found.

Even though the NYPL was hard-hit by the City's budget crises during the 70s, the Mid-Manhattan Library was open 7 days a week - a lifesaver to those of us who worked while going to school. One of my favorite sections of the place was the huge collection of college catalogues from all over the USA, grouped by state. Sometimes I would just browse through them- everything from big state universities to tiny Southern Bible colleges.