New York State Library

New York State Library
The New York State Library is located in the Cultural Education Center
Map
Location222 Madison Avenue
Albany, New York 12230, United States
Type
Established1818; 206 years ago (1818)
Collection
Size
  • c. 20 million print items
  • c. 50,000 digital items
Access and use
Population servedNew York residents
Other information
DirectorLauren Moore, State Librarian
Websitenysl.nysed.gov

The New York State Library is a research library in Albany, New York, United States. It was established in 1818 to serve the state government of New York and is part of the New York State Education Department. The library is one of the largest in the world by number of items held, with over 20 million cataloged items in 2011.[1]

The library and its sister institutions, the New York State Museum and New York State Archives, are housed in the Cultural Education Center, which is part of the Empire State Plaza, a large complex of state government offices in downtown Albany.

The New York State Library was formerly located in the New York State Capitol and then across Washington Avenue in the New York State Education Building. An annex containing books, journals, and newspapers is still located in the basement of the Education Building. The library undertook an effort to discard some of these items in 2014.[2]

  1. ^ "About the New York State Library". New York State Education Department. March 20, 2010. Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  2. ^ Grondahl, Paul (January 18, 2014). "State Library's tough calls on what to save, what to shred". Albany Times Union. Retrieved January 24, 2014.