Why the Public Library Is Giving Away 1,000 Books – The New York Times

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Why the Public Library Is Giving Away 1,000 Books

The books come from its list of best titles of the year and will be available at three flagship library branches.

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By James Barron, Nov. 20, 2025

Good morning. It’s Thursday. Today we’ll find out why the New York Public Library is giving away books — and providing no-waiting access to 25 e-book titles. We’ll also look at the relationship between Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and the police commissioner, Jessica Tisch.

Credit…Karsten Moran for The New York Times.

Usually you have to return books you get from a library. Today the New York Public Library will give books away — 1,000 books from its list of the best titles of 2025, chosen by more than 80 librarians from branches across the library’s system. If you get one, you won’t have to return it.

The giveaways are a way to promote the library’s best-books list. They will be available at three “flagship” libraries — the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, at 455 Fifth Avenue; the Bronx Library Center, at 310 East Kingsbridge Road; and the St. George Library Center, at 5 Central Avenue on Staten Island.

But giving away books is not the only way the library is attempting to put the titles on its list in readers’ hands. The institution is making 25 of the titles available as e-books with no waiting to anyone who has one of its library cards. Ten of the 25 are for adults, five are for teens and 10 are for children (five in English and five in Spanish).

“Usually when we announce our best books, there’s a run on the titles, no matter how many we buy” to put on the shelves, said Brian Bannon, the chief librarian, “so it’s sort of like you can’t check out the ones you want until next summer.” With e-books, “we’re leaning into a way that makes it easy to borrow a book” — and to read it while the impulse is fresh.

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