“They just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages.
Harry tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork,
right, left, but it was impossible. The rattling cart
seemed to know its own way.”
— Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
As if by magic, books can now be delivered from underground to the Rose Main Reading Room in five minutes flat.
The Library’s new, $2.6 million “book train” connects theStephen A. Schwarzman Building’s iconic reading room to the Milstein Research Stacks underground. All told, 4 million volumes can be stored in the state-of-the-art facility under Bryant Park—and librarians can conjure them with a touch of a button. While the total wait for a book will vary depending on a number of factors, once the book makes it to the conveyor, it weaves its way upstairs in five minutes.
The system by Teledynamic replaces an outdated conveyor belt that had to run 24/7 to stay operational. In this new system, though, each of the 24 steel cars has its own motor, making it more dependable and efficient. They can be summoned on 350 feet of track to several locations throughout the Schwarzman Building, including the last stop, the Rose Main Reading Room on the third floor.
The room reopened on Oct. 5 after a more than two-year closure for repairs and restorations. The conveyor was installed at the same time as the repair work to ensure the best possible experience for researchers in the space, where any patron with a library card can access the Library’s General Research Division for use in the library (if you want to check out a book, head across the street to the Mid-Manhattan Library on 40th Street and Fifth Avenue).
All one has to do is is consult with a librarian, fill out a call slip, and the magic begins—the request goes to the Milstein Research Stacks, a staffer finds the book, places it on the book train, and in five minutes, it’s upstairs ready to be read.
For more information on how to access the collections, check out the Research Catalog.