Brooklyn's Central Library (Images of America)

By: Francis Morrone and Brooklyn Public Library

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Synopsis: Brooklyn, New York, is home to the Brooklyn Public Library, the fifth-largest library system in the United States, with 60 neighborhood branches serving the 2.5 million residents of the borough. The Central Library--the main hub of this far-reaching institution--has, for 75 years, occupied a prime triangle of land at Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza. Originally proposed in 1888, the unique Art Deco building with an "open book" design was not completed until 53 years later in 1941. Since then, the library has seen millions of eager readers pass through its iconic gilded doorway. While the technologies of learning have changed dramatically in the years since the Central Library opened, the mission of the institution remains the same--to ensure the preservation and transmission of society's knowledge, history, and culture, and to provide the people of Brooklyn with free and open access to information for education, recreation, and reference.