How long do you have to live in a city before you find out about its secret underground library? In my case, I guess itās 10 months, because I just heard about the tiny New York Public Library branch (the Terence Cardinal Cooke-Cathedral Branch, officially) tucked away in a subway station.
The underground branch lives outside the turnstiles at the 51st Street 6 stop, and it sounds like a sort of literacy-and-public-transit-themed Cheers. āYou see the same people all the time,ā patron Melissa Britt told the New York Times in 2010. āYou canāt find this place unless someone tells you about it.ā Another patron added, āIf you donāt take the train, youād probably never even know this place exists.ā
Most people who use this branch ādonāt come here for serious research,ā says the branch manager ā they want page-turners for the commute ā but donāt think the librarians donāt offer reference services. āThey come in asking for help with the MetroCard machine,ā the manager told the Times. āWe do help them if weāre not too busy, and they also ask us for subway maps, so we keep a lot of them on hand.ā
H/t @debcha