Other Branches, 9 a. m. to 9 p. m. on week days. Exceptions as follows: Central Circulation and branches in Carnegie buildings open full hours on all holidays; other branches closed on January 1, May 30, July 4, December 25, presidential election day, and Thanksgiving; after 6 p. m. on February 22 and Christmas eve; after 5 p. m. on election days other than presidential elections.
CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
The Circulation Department of the Library performs its work through forty-four Branch Libraries in the Boroughs of Manhattan, Richmond (Staten Island), and The Bronx. (Each of the other two Boroughs of Greater New York, Brooklyn and Queens, has its own Public Library.) These Branches are in separate buildings, with the exception of the Circulation Branch in the Central Building. That is supported by the funds of the Library; all the others are maintained by the City. Thirty-seven of the Branch buildings were erected from funds given by Mr. Andrew Carnegie. The collections of books in the Branches number from ten to fifty thousand, with a total of about 1,100,000 books.
Each Branch has an adult department, with its collection of books for adult readers, a children's room, and a reading room with current magazines, reference books, and, in many cases, daily newspapers. Many of the Branches contain lecture or assembly rooms.
These Branch Libraries serve a population estimated at above three million. The Branches are spread over a large territory, and from the northernmost of them, in the Borough of The Bronx, to the one farthest south, on Staten Island, the distance is about forty miles. A directory of Branches is on page [77].
Circulation of Books. The New York Public Library, according to the general custom of American libraries, imposes few restrictions upon its readers. This fact, together with its situation in the metropolis of the country, is the reason why it is probably used more than any other library under one management in the world. The use is constantly growing. In 1915 there were borrowed from the Branch Libraries, for home use, 10,384,579 books.
SEWARD PARK BRANCH