BORN A.D. MDCCCXIII (Bas-relief of Sir Isaac Pitman) TABLET ERECTED A.D. MCMXIII TO COMMEMORATE THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF SIR ISAAC PITMAN AND IN RECOGNITION OF THE IMPORTANT COLLECTION OF SHORTHAND LITERATURE IN THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Over the door leading from the Public Catalogue Room to the Main Reading Room is inscribed the famous quotation from Milton's "Areopagitica": A good Booke is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalm'd and treasur'd up on purpose to a life beyond life [Illustration: ENTRANCE LOBBY] =Information Desk.= The Information Desk of the Library is in the Public Catalogue Room, and here inquiries should be made about the resources and regulations of the Library, the use of the catalogue, and any other matter upon which the visitor may have a question to ask. =Application for books= to be used in the Main Reading Room should be made in the Public Catalogue Room. The applicant writes his request upon the slip furnished for the purpose, and files it at the desk in this room. A numbered ticket is handed him, which he takes into the Main Reading Room, going to the right if the ticket number is odd; to the left if the number is even. He then waits at the indicator at the western end of the delivery desk until the number on his ticket appears. This means that his books are ready for him at the desk. If, however, he prefers first to select a seat in the Main Reading Room, he should write the number of that seat on his application, and his books will be left at that seat, if he is there to receive them. [Illustration] =The Main Reading Room=, in the rear, extends nearly the entire length of the building. It has a floor area of half an acre, and is divided in the middle by a booth from which books are delivered. There are seats for 768 readers. Mr. A. C. David, in the article previously quoted from the _Architectural Record_, says: "The Main Reading Room is one of the most spacious rooms in the world--beautifully proportioned, lighted by a series of windows on both the long sides of the room, and entirely accessible to the stacks. To have obtained a room of these dimensions, so excellently adapted to its purpose in every respect, was a great triumph for the architects." [Illustration: DOOR OF EXHIBITION ROOM]