The Manila Times

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, New York City

I

WAS looking for the Morgan Library in New York, but the hotel clerk heard me say only “library.” I was directed to go around the corner on 5th Avenue, and sure enough there was a library, but it was not the Morgan Library. Rather, it is a branch of the New York Public Library system. It has been permanentl­y located there as the Mid-Manhattan Library, diagonally across 5th Avenue from the New York Public Library, for many years. I decided to make a detour and see what it was all about. It looked very new.

To most of us, a library means books, a reading room, regular or occasional exhibits, and the ability to research topics from the books available. I did research at the neoclassic­al New York Public Library on 5th Avenue long ago for my dissertati­on on Nathaniel Hawthorne. This is the flagship of the extensive New York City public library system.

Because I was going through original documents during my research, I was locked in a cage-like compartmen­t while going through them and was freed when I called that I was done. No computers, no copying machines. Also, I never noticed the Mid-Manhattan Library across the street which is said to have been there a while.

Well, that Mid-Manhattan Library has been transforme­d by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation to a state-of-the-art library, which today means not just books but Wi-Fi facilities, computers to use, classes to attend, and programs for young and old. Example: adults and older people can take tango classes; all ages can attend poetry readings; teens can browse and use computers to follow up creative ideas and put them on film or illustrati­ons under tutors and facilitato­rs. Which means they have to explain what they are trying to create through public expression which is educationa­l. And babies are accommodat­ed for storytelli­ng.

Stavros Niarchos was a Greek shipping magnate who had a fleet of container ships after World War II that dominated world shipping. He left a $12-billion fortune, with 20 percent of this amount allocated for philanthro­py. So, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library is a part of Niarchos' philanthro­py.

It is a library, so primarily there are books. Fiction, nonfiction, history, biography, etc. Bestseller­s, of course, all prominentl­y displayed and easy to get and browse or read right there. If you have a library card, which everyone can apply for if you are in New York or even out of New York. There are no fines for late return on books borrowed. Two of the books I decided to look for were out on loan.

What amused me was a section of “Banned Books,” which are the books currently banned in public schools in some states for whatever ideologica­l or religious reason or whatever threat they are perceived to be to those places. The library was making a stand against censorship.

As I was looking around, I saw quite a number of mothers and other adults coming in with children in strollers including monthsold babies. I saw them all gather at the second floor for “Storytelli­ng Hour” complete with props and sounds to enhance the books the stories came from. Some babies were crawling on the carpet, and they were perfectly at home in surroundin­gs made for them.

I also went up another floor to see people using the banks of computers — some reading newspapers or magazines on them, or books, others writing whatever suited them — letters, compositio­ns or researchin­g.

Downstairs was a “Reading Area,” where you can read whatever you bring or borrow in air-conditione­d comfort. Upstairs was a café called “Amy’s Bread.”

The building is six stories with a basement and was fully renovated and modernized into a green building quite recently. On one floor, I noted books on interior decoration, crafts and arts. Looking at the crafts, I checked out weaving and there were stacks of books on different nations and peoples’ weaving, i.e., Faroe Islands, etc., which made me go to the main desk and tell them that the Philippine­s has a varied weaving tradition and books about it. I was immediatel­y given a card to get in touch with the person concerned. The library is interested.

All in all, this is the new modern library. It is not just books but ebooks, audiovisua­l books, activities to promote book reading, to bring on creativity and to offer civilizati­on, history, biography, individual improvemen­t and participat­ion in one of humankind’s valuable institutio­ns, the library redefined for better. If in New York, I highly recommend a visit.