Thursday, November 26, 2009

Bibliophilia meets Librophilia

If you follow me on Twitter (@MurphysNewLaw), you may have seen my re-tweet of a friend's link to photos of beautiful libraries; I appended the link with the comment that these gorgeous locations were, without a doubt,
my idea of heaven.

My new museum job is a dream come true in many ways. The people there and the work itself are so fun and wholly fascinating, and I have the added perks of working in a gorgeous space right across the street from Central Park, and getting to conduct research at the New York Public Library.

Naturally, the NYPL system has many branches, but I'm talking about the motherlode: The Schwarzman Building. If you saw the Sex and the City film, you'll remember this as the place where Carrie and Big almost marry:


Or, if you love Breakfast at Tiffany's, this is the location where Holly and Jack request to see his book (watch from 0:40 to 2:45):



(The same system of waiting for your number to be called still applies today. Did you know that "57" happens to be my favorite number?)

(HERE'S a list of other movies filmed in the NYPL.)

It's such a delight to research in this library, and I find myself frequently distracted from the core research because there's so much I want to learn; I'm frequently reading every detail of every page when I should just be browsing for specific information. Is there any greater luxury than education?

Anyway, here are a few shots of the Main Reading Room and third floor of the Schwarzman building, or, what I like to call my "other office." Hah.









Across Fifth Avenue on a little side street called Library Way, there are plaques on the sidewalk which showcase great quotes about learning. Here are two of my favorites:





Here's to wishing that the places in which you learn are as beautiful as the knowledge itself.
Cxx.

2 comments:

SplendidlyImperfect said...

OMG, I am such a nerd - I totally got chills when I saw the photos of the reading room. HA!

MCW said...

How amazing...