Introduction to the New York Public Library: The New York Public Library is the largest public library in the United States. It was formed in 1895 by the merger of Astor Library, Lennox Library and Tilden Trust Company. The museum's funding mainly comes from donations. The palace-style building completed in 1911 has a neoclassical style. By the end of 1992, the library had a collection of 16.47 million volumes (items), including 4.1 million books, 20,000 journals, and 10 million manuscripts, maps, pictures, etc. The collection includes the earliest editions of British and American literary masterpieces, manuscripts of well-known writers and other precious ancient books and materials. The library is also the central research library of the New York Public Library system, managing 3 research libraries and 84 branches distributed in 3 boroughs of New York. The total number of books in the branch library exceeds 3 million volumes.