Central Library (Brooklyn Public Library)

The Central Library of the Brooklyn Public Library, located at Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway on Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, New York City, contains over a million cataloged books, magazines, and multimedia materials. Each year, over one million people visit the library.FacilityThe facility, landmarked in 1997, boasts the state-of-the art S. Stevan Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture, a 189-seat auditorium that opened in 2007 and hosts lectures, readings, musical performances, and other events for people of all ages. The library's plaza, renovated during the construction of the Dweck Center, hosts concerts throughout the summer and has become a favorite outdoor destination for free wireless internet access.The Shelby White and Leon Levy Information Commons opened in January, 2013. The space offers an integrated venue for individual work, public classes, private events, and meetings.The Central Library's local history division, The Brooklyn Collection, holds over a million individual items including photographs, maps, manuscripts, Brooklyn Dodgers memorabilia and other ephemeral items.HistoryGround was broken for a Brooklyn central library on Prospect Park Plaza in 1912. The design of the original architect Raymond Almirall called for a domed, four-story Beaux Arts building, similar in style to the nearby Brooklyn Museum. Escalating costs and political in-fighting helped slow construction throughout the decade. World War I and the Great Depression ensured that Almirall's building, whose Flatbush Avenue wing had been completed by 1929, would never be built.