In other directions as well, it was on its way toward becoming a na-
tional institution. American ballets were presented during three successive
seasons (1935—8). To encourage American singers several hundred young
voices from all parts of the Nation are heard each season by a committee
of musicians; the best are given an opportunity to sing on radio programs,
and some are selected for the spring opera season. Those who distinguish
themselves participate in the regular winter performances. Together with
regular broadcasts of the best symphony music, the free concerts given in
museums and other public buildings, and the Federal music theaters, the
Metropolitan Opera of today is a significant part of a tendency toward the
broad dissemination of musical culture.

The New York Public Library: The Central Building

5th Ave. and 42d St. IRT Lexington Ave. subway to Grand Central (E. 42d St.),
or IRT Broadway-7th Ave. subway to Times Square (W. 42d St.), then Queens
line to Fifth Ave.; or 8th Ave. (Independent) subway to 42d St.; or BMT subway
to Times Square; or 5th Ave. bus to 42d St. Hours; weekdays 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.,
Sunday 1 to 10 p.m.

Eleven thousand readers and visitors, on an average day, enter the Fifth
Avenue building of the New York Public Library. Here is the center of
a library system which, exclusive of separate systems in Brooklyn and
Queens, is second in size in America only to the Library of Congress. In
the reference department, which occupies the greater part of this building,
eighty miles of shelves are crowded with more than two and one-half mil-
lion books. Approximately a million and one-half books more are available
through the Circulation Department, which comprises fifty-one branches
and eleven subbranches in Manhattan, Richmond, and the Bronx. The li-
brary's collections are strong in history and biography, especially in relation
to America; supplementing tens of thousands of books in the Americana
collections are thousands of prints and etchings, and scores of valuable
documents and maps dealing with the nation's history.

The building, which occupies the site of the old Croton Reservoir, was
designed by the firm of Carrere and Hastings, architects, and completed in
1911. It cost $9,000,000. Architecturally, it is an outstanding example of
the eclectic neoclassic style that was popular following the Chicago Co-
lumbian Exposition of 1893. The building has been much criticized for