By Robert Beck
The library I was taken to as a child was a house built in the late 1700s and given to the town in 1929 expressly to be used for that purpose. I remember turning right just past the desk and running to the shelves in the corner where they had two books on magic. I haven’t been to that library in 60 years. However, I can still do a couple of sleight-of-hand tricks well enough to fool an eight-year-old.
The St. Agnes Library, part of the New York Public Library system, began life as a private church library. It later opened to the public, received funding from Andrew Carnegie, and now serves the community from its location on Amsterdam Avenue between West 82nd and 83rd.
When I was writing this column, that word community popped up a lot. A variety of people had come in while I was painting — kids, adults, older folks — and there was something there for all of them. Here’s another excellent word: access. Free, open, and equal access to ideas and information. Access to help. Access to social services. You can get exam prep, Wi-Fi, hear a presentation, and watch a film — it’s an extensive list. You can even go to the bathroom. And it’s for everybody. Libraries fight polarization, inequality, and the decline in civility. And yes, there are marvelous books.
Libraries are tailored to the community. They are safe and respectful environments that bring us together. Safe is another important word.
Some people view libraries as artifacts from days past made irrelevant by the internet, but the two are very different places. As Neil Gaiman said, “Google can bring you back 100,000 answers; a librarian can bring you back the right one.”
There are other reasons libraries matter, best seen in contrast to the internet’s significant downsides. The web fosters isolation, inaccurate and falsified information, the gathering and theft of personal data, and scams. If you read online comments sections, it’s clear that anonymity enables uncivil behavior. It’s a dangerous place, and not just for kids. Libraries are none of those things.
There’s also a dependency that comes with the internet. One needs only experience the mortal dread and panic when a computer or phone stops working to understand the unhealthy influence. Sure, the web is a necessary and powerful tool, but it is also an unreal and hazardous simulation governed by popularity, optimization, and advantage, none of which are paths to the truth.
Given the choice of where I want my kids (or my mother) to spend their time — in their room with a computer or in a library — it would be where there is a community with their interests in mind. The place with the magic.
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See more of Robert Beck’s work and visit his UWS studio by going to www.robertbeck.net. Let him know if you have a connection to an archetypical UWS place or event that would make a good West Side Canvas subject. Thank you!
Note: Before Robert Beck wrote West Side Canvas, his essays and paintings were featured in Weekend Column. Read Robert Beck’s earlier columns here and here.
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I haven’t been to St Agnes since pre pandemic you can use their laptops and desktops for 45 minutes s. And if no one else registers you can use for another 15 minutes.
My one complaint about the NYPL is that during the pandemic they changed the number of ebooks you could borrow at a time from 10 to 3 and it hasn’t gone back.
I live in the hood; that’s ‘my’ chosen library, and I can’t praise it highly enough. The staff, facilities, community … the vibe … it is all Mr. Beck notes and more. Also: that’s my art on the stairwell walls, now captured in his painting. How very cool. Thanks, St. Agnes.
I love my St. Agnes Library. The only criticism is that it is supposed to be a cooling station during heat waves. Well it’s not. It’s warm with huge, noisy fans going at least it was last summer. I doubt there is any improvement since their funds have been cut.
Agreed – the 2nd floor in particular was always too hot.
Love it!
Excellently article…agree 100%!
My son still loves the books that were recommended to him by a librarian at St. Agnes, especially a book called Truck Song.
Eln,
Their air conditioning is broken, that’s why it’s hot and the fans are there.
A lot of the public libraries have broken air conditioning right now – one of many reasons why we need the Mayor to stop the proposed library funding cuts and restore the funding he already eliminated!
Many thanks to Andrew Carnegie a true
angel
If u ever visited his office in his house now the Cooper Hewitt museum on the walls
are painted “0Di unto others erc”
We need people like that now
bless you ndrew
He wasn’t exactly an angel, but his attempts to salve his conscience have done much good.
Wonderful, eloquent piece. St. Agnes is my local library and I love every inch of it (and its renovation is beautiful). And everything Mr. Beck observes about libraries and their importance to communities is why I am a loyal financial supporter of the New York public library.
Wonderful article and lovely work of art. Thank you! St. Agnes is always the branch I designate for any gifts to NYPL. Also, just read in Gothamist that funding will be restored to keep libraries open 7 days. Hooray!
My go to NYPL for many years. One complaint. I went to return a book last Sunday and the book drop box was locked.
Why?
I CitiBiked down to Riverside Library and dropped off the book in its OPEN drop box.
A neighbor of the St. Agnes branch told me the drop box is never open.
Why?
Well put!