As highlighted in Phyllis Dain's biographical and historical account of Lydenberg's life, entitled, "Harry M. Lydenberg and American library resources: a study in modern library leadership", his early life necessitated that he learn what it meant to make do with very little and to conserve resources.

One of his earliest jobs, delivering newspapers, set the stage for what would be a long career working with the written word, and the mechanics of printing.

According to his colleague, Keyes Metcalf, he oversaw multiple studies pertaining to such subjects as general conservation, paper and leather selection and temperature control.

[22] He continued to see NYPL not only through the issues unique to the management of a large urban library, but also through years war recovery and economic uncertainty.

[25] His years as director of NYPL had prepared him well for this position, as it was a time when the United States (and most specifically public institutions) was collectively experiencing a great period of sacrifice and fiscal belt-tightening.

He had previously visited Europe post World War I to study book buying and preservation practices.

[26] He felt librarians could enhance American library collections and maintenance practices by learning what other counties did with their information and physical books, especially during wartime.

He acknowledged in his 1945 essay, “The Library Rehabilitation Programme of the American Library Association”, “Librarians have joyfully agreed that common efforts, concerted action, rather than rampant rivalry, are necessary in connection with future purchases when the time is ripe for what we may call ordinary buying.”[27] Lydenberg was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1939.