The New York Public Library Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations

The four research centers - the stephen a. schwarzman building; the thomas yoseloff business center; the schomburg center for research in black culture; and the library for performing arts - continue to expand access to our collections, welcome new audiences, and inspire the next generation of researchers. during fiscal year 2024, the research centers welcomed approximately 3.9 million on-site patrons and sponsored 3,000 programs with almost 151,000 attendees. library staff responded to 278,000 reference inquiries. the library's collection holds 47.4 million items, primarily book and book-like materials but also personal papers, archives, photographs, audio recordings, films, maps, sheet music, prints and clippings. in keeping with our mission to provide free access to information for all, our world-renowned collections are open to all and help solidify the library as a home for knowledge and scholarship. the research centers have an extensive conservation and preservation program to ensure the discoverability and accessibility of collection items at every stage of their life cycle. to make special collections accessible, staff processed and described 1,300 linear feet of collections and inventoried nearly 7,300 audio/visual items, resulting in about 26,100 archives space components and 2,900 catalog item records. special collections are also controlled, preserved and transported for exhibitions, digitization, curatorial requests and research purposes. this year, these activities included assessing 28,000 items and containers, digitizing almost 10,000 media items (video, film, and recorded sound), and securely transporting almost 8,300 collection objects.