The library's collection of 300,000 volumes includes audio recordings and periodicals, as well as books on a broad range of subjects.

They convinced Colonial Governor James DeLancey to let them use a room in the original City Hall, at Wall and Broad streets, for that purpose.

[7] The NYSL effectively served as the first Library of Congress for two years, and its records show borrowings by George Washington, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, among other early American notables from that time.

A board of trustees was elected which hired the librarians, chose materials for the collection and drafted and enforced regulations for library use.

It was thanks to a generous donation from the Goodhue family that enabled the purchase of the building,[10] which was a mansion built just 20 years earlier.

Notable patrons at the present location have ranged from W. H. Auden and Lillian Hellman in the early years to David Halberstam and Wendy Wasserstein more recently.

[5][6] Trowbridge & Livingston designed the house at 53 East 79th Street for the John S. Rogers family in 1917, in the firm's later years.

The main entrance at street level, behind a long awning, is flanked by two Doric pilasters supporting a horizontal lintel, set in rusticated stone.

The second story windows are double glass doors topped with carved bracketed pediments (rounded in the center).

The wood paneling and mantels in the card catalog room, second floor lounge and director's office is also original.

[12] Those fees and the library's endowment support a staff of 18 full-time and 10 part-time employees and headed by director Carolyn Waters.

[15] Another significant collection are the Italian-language books kept by Mozart's librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, who spent his last years in New York.

Those 600 volumes made up a large share of the library's 1838 catalog, and are today separately organized as the Da Ponte collection.