NYPL, Humanities and Social Sciences Library

I decided to check out a section of the New York Public Library's Online Access site, the Humanities and Social Sciences Library. Along with how lovely the site actually is, one of the first things you'll notice when arriving at the site is the search box at the top right hand corner of the screen. You can enter in any search terms and use the drag down box to choose where on the site to search, including "everything", "circulating", and "archives", among others.

The Humanities and Social Sciences Library at the New York Public Library is a research library only, which means it does not lend out materials, and the collections are available for use free of charge online only. It is home to nine general Humanities and Social Sciences collections and another eight special collections including the Berg Collection of English and American Literature and the Rare Books collection.

The page itself is easy to navigate, with a left hand side bar offering information about the collections, resources and services, about the library, and a section of "Quick Links" including links to search the catalog and ask an e-mail reference question.


The online catalog, or CATNYP, is clear and aesthetically pleasing, with easy to read links and sections for searching. You can search in a variety of ways, including by regular keyword (author, title, ISBN number, etc.) and by other, more uncommon ways, including the "Govt Doc #" or the "Music Publisher #, sort, and search in the entire library or specifically in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

One section of the NYPL's Humanities and Social Sciences Library is the Dorot Jewish Division, which is "one of the great collections of Judaica in the world and the most accessible for both scholarly and personal use." The collection has material on all aspects of Jewish life and also includes Hebrew and Yiddish-language texts on general subjects.
The "bitter herb" of the Passover Haggadah,
Dorot Jewish Division, NYPL


Each link you go to for a collection in the Library has a huge amount of information about the library itself, the specific collection, and the holdings. The pages are laid out beautifully and contain incredible amounts of useful information along with easy to find links to get more information, such as on visiting hours or the history and preservation information about the collections.

The New York Public Library is known for being one of the greatest libraries in the world, and it's no surprise that its site should be so well laid out and easy to use. The Humanities and Social Library of the NYPL offers a magnificent amount of special, informative, and useful items and collections and its site and OPAC definitely do it justice.