The Library is open 11 AM-4 PM daily for sidewalk book returns, with pickups by appointment.
 We will be closed Friday, July 3, Saturday, July 4, and Sunday, July 5 for the holiday.
 Click on the photo to see more from our first days open!
The essentials:
  1. Books can be returned during any open hours.
  2. Place holds on books using our catalog, by emailing requests@nysoclib.org, or by calling 212.288.690 x211.
  3. Please wait to come visit us until you hear from us that your books are ready to be picked up.
  4. On or after your assigned pickup date, stop by during our open hours. Your books will be bagged up with your name just outside or just inside the Library's doors. Masks are required, and sidewalk markers will help you maintain a six-foot social distance.
  5. If you are sick or in a vulnerable category, please stay home and take care of yourself. Reach out to us and we will make arrangements to pick up and/or deliver your books.
  6. We can't wait to see you!

More details here . Watch for further updates soon.
News and Links

Pride & Prejudice: We've seen it as novel, history, television, film - and now as folklore. Staffer Marialuisa Monda looks at the archetypes in Austen's classic (just in time for our June 29 performance !).

Learn more about the history, culture, and food of Juneteenth with this post by staffer Freddy Kpeli - and it's not too late to catch up on a Buddy Read of Ibram X. Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning.

The Library stands in solidarity with all who are protesting systemic racism. Read our statement and learn from our list of Books for Understanding, Books for Change .


Quick Survey
If you use our website, nysoclib.org, we'd love to know what you think with this five-question survey. ADD YOUR ANSWER HERE .
Last month we asked you to describe a reading-related One Magic Summer . Respondents answered

  • Reading Proust in the dunes.
  • Summer 1952. Sea, rocks, sand; cold lobster; and my first serious kiss - from a Frenchman!
  • I'd say the three summers I spent studying abroad in Italy rank pretty high as "magic summers" even if I had to be studying during big chunks of them, it was the adventures I had outside of the classroom that made them all magical.
  • A delicious vice - I read in bed late afternoon, windows open, the din of birds, bees, and bugs streams through, and best of all the sound of the train toot-tooting its arrival into the Locust Valley stop.
  • The summer of 1967, a.k.a. the Summer of Love. I truly learned a lot of wonderful things that summer, especially related to music and social change. A magical moment in America.
  • 1970 downtown abode reading, writing.
  • My first trip to Newport, RI, was when I was 14....That summer I was first challenged academically and by classmates and professors from all over the world....I got sun and fun, but most meaningfully I got a taste of science in the lab, in a Woods Hole-related oceanography program.
TONIGHT! PERFORMANCE - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Laura Rocklyn as Jane Austen
Who Dares to Be an Authoress?

Monday, June 29, 6:00 PM
 online | $10 per person | registration required

A genteel summer visit to 1815 with writer/actress Laura Rocklyn as Jane Austen, with interactive discussion of Regency deportment and etiquette.

THIS EVENT IS GENEROUSLY UNDERWRITTEN BY ALEXANDER SANGER IN HONOR OF JEANNETTE WATSON SANGER.
CHILDREN'S EVENT - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Ice Cream in a Bag!

Wednesday, July 1, 12:00 PM
 YouTube | for all ages | no registration required

Heat got you craving something cold and creamy? Join Pete on YouTube as he teaches you how to make ice cream with ingredients you may already have in your kitchen.
WRITING LIFE POETRY WORKSHOP - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Esther Cohen
Write What Life Feels Like Now

Thursdays July 2 and July 16, 3:00 PM
 online | separate sessions | by donation | registration required

There are so many words to say how we feel. Let's try together.

Esther Cohen is a writer and poet in New York City. She also teaches and is a cultural activist. Most days she posts a poem at esthercohen.com .

THE WRITING LIFE EVENTS IN 2020 ARE GENEROUSLY UNDERWRITTEN BY JENNY LAWRENCE.
NEW! VIRTUAL TOUR - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Margaret Armstrong's Botanical Watercolors at the Met Museum

Wednesday, July 8, 6:00 PM
 online | by donation | registration required

Join us for a watch party of this pre-recorded virtual tour focused on botanical watercolors from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Curators discuss Armstrong's life and work, highlighting her Field Book of Western Wildflowers, the role of women in the decorative arts at the turn of the 20th century, and the influence of her artistic family on her career.
NEW! SEMINAR - FOR MEMBERS
Meeting Virgil's Aeneid
with Jane Mallison
Thursdays July 9, July 23, August 6, August 13, 11:00 AM
 online | $60 for the set of four sessions | registration required

Written at the request of the Roman Emperor Augustus, this first-century BCE epic is much more than a piece of propaganda designed to make Rome great again. We’ll read books one through six (of twelve) in Robert Fagles’ fine translation (2006).
THE WRITING LIFE - FOR MEMBERS ONLY
Prompt!
Fridays July 10, August 14, 11:00 AM
 online | by donation | registration required

Come write with us on Friday mornings. Join your fellow member writers for a fun and stimulating hour+ of prompts, writing, and sharing. Sessions are separate - attend any or all.
NEW! VIRTUAL LIBRARY VISIT - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Virtual Exploration of the Library
with New York Adventure Club
Friday, July 10, 1:00 PM
 online | $10 per person | registration required

We're pleased to offer a virtual visit to the Library then and now, including discussion of our history, a digital building walk-through, tips from our Book Conservator, and a detailed look at our current exhibition.
NEW! SOCIAL EVENT - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Trivia Tuesday - Bastille Day Edition!
Tuesday, July 14, 6:00 PM
 online | by donation | registration required

Liberté! Egalité! Put on your thinking cap and join Library staff and friends for an informal hour of book-based trivia with a Francophone flair.
NEW! SPECIAL EVENT - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
An Evening with Jamaica Kincaid
Thursday, July 16, 6:00 PM
 online | $10 per person | registration required

Jamaica Kincaid is a writer and professor whose works include the novels See Now Then, Annie John, Lucy, The Autobiography of My Mother, and Mr. Potter; a classic history of Antigua, A Small Place; and a memoir, My Brother. The Josephine Olp Weeks Chair and Professor of African and African American Studies in Residence at Harvard University, Ms. Kincaid was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004.

In this special one-time only event, Ms. Kincaid talks about her work and the past and present worlds in which it happens.
NEW! LECTURE - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Clifford Thompson
What It Is: Race, Family, and One Thinking Black Man's Blues
Monday, July 20, 6:00 PM
 online | $10 per person | registration required

An African-American writer’s concise, heartfelt take on the state of his nation, exploring the war between the values he has always held and the reality with which he is confronted in twenty-first-century America.

Clifford Thompson’s work has appeared in publications including The Best American Essays 2018, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Threepenny Review, and The Village Voice. He is the recipient of a Whiting Award for nonfiction and teaches at New York University, Sarah Lawrence College, and the Bennington Writing Seminars.
NEW! LECTURE - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
S.A. Cosby
Blacktop Wasteland
Thursday. July 30, 6:00 PM
 online | $10 per person | registration required

A husband, a father, a son, a business owner...And the best getaway driver east of the Mississippi.

Like Ocean's Eleven meets Drive with a Southern noir twist, S. A. Cosby's Blacktop Wasteland is a searing, operatic story of a man pushed to his limits by poverty, race, and his own former life of crime. Lee Child calls it "sensationally good - new, fresh, real, authentic, twisty, with characters and dilemmas that will break your heart. More than recommended."

S.A. Cosby is a writer from Southeastern Virginia. He recently won an Anthony Award for Best Short Story.
INFORMAL GATHERING - FOR MEMBERS

Fridays, 3:00-3:30 PM
online | by donation | drop in

Grab your favorite cup and your current read and spend a little time in social sipping and book-friendly chat with your fellow members. Every Friday until further notice.

RECENT ONLINE EVENTS TO STREAM
PLUS
Quick Links
 
Current Library Hours
Open daily for returns 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM, with book pickups by appointment. The Library is closed Friday, July 3, Saturday, July 4, and Sunday, July 5 for Independence Day.