The video above shows what happened just before the staff at the New York Public Library reopened their 100-year-old Rose Main Reading Room after a makeover in the fall. 52,000 books had to be put back onto their shelves, one by one. That’s a lot of books. Don’t let the briskness of the time lapse fool you.
The Beaux-Arts Rose Main Reading Room is one of the library’s iconic settings. It’s the room of lamped tables we’ve seen in numerous Hollywood films. For many of us, it’s the archetype for a real library.
The room itself is massive, the length of two city blocks. And the restoration of the space’s 52-foot-high—and gorgeous—ceiling mural was finished before the video was shot.
The video itself was created by Max Touhey. The music used is “As Colorful As Ever” by Broke for Free.*
*Update, Nov. 1, 2016: This post has been updated to credit the video creator as well as the video’s song title and artist.
