The Science, Industry and Business Library of the New York Public Library: A High-Technology Research Centre for High-Volume Public Use

Abstract

In 1996, its centenary year, the New York Public Library opened its Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) in a former department store in mid-town Manhattan, occupying 160,000 square feet of usable floor space. The building, which has received six awards, is designed to be both attractive and highly functional. The $100 million project was funded by a combination of private and government funds. The concept is of a specialized high technology research centre with unparallelled older and current print collections (1.2 million books and serials) and access to electronic resources, which also incorporates a 50,000-item circulating library of popular print, audiovisual and multimedia materials. All of the resources are available to the public at no charge. Much of the collection is on open access. There are several professionally staffed information service points. The provision of extensive training sessions is proving to be an outstanding success, more than 20,000 people having registered since SIBL opened. A three-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has enabled SIBL to train information professionals in the three crucial areas of technological competence, customer service and professional development.