Business & Career Library, Professional development center in Brooklyn, United States
The Business & Career Library was a branch of the Brooklyn Public Library at 280 Cadman Plaza West in Brooklyn Heights. It opened on June 1, 1962, in a $2.5 million building shared with the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood branch. A two-year renovation and expansion was completed in 1993. The building was demolished after 2013 and replaced by a 34-story condominium with a smaller library at its base, completed in June 2022.
The branch's origins predate the Brooklyn Public Library: in 1852 citizens founded the Brooklyn Athenaeum and Reading Room, and in 1857 the Brooklyn Mercantile Library Association shared its building. The two consolidated in 1869 as the Montague Street Branch, renamed Brooklyn Library in 1878. A new $2.5 million building opened at 280 Cadman Plaza West on June 1, 1962, and was renovated in 1993.
The library's lineage began with the Brooklyn Athenaeum and Reading Room, founded in 1852 by prominent citizens to instruct young men, and the Brooklyn Mercantile Library Association, set up in 1857 and sharing the Athenaeum's building. The Mercantile Library stressed practical subjects over literature and philosophy. Its librarian, Stephen Buttrick Noyes, left in 1866 for the Library of Congress and returned in 1869 to prepare a catalog issued in 1881.
The library stood at 280 Cadman Plaza West in Brooklyn Heights, near Downtown Brooklyn. After the 2013 sale of the site, its business and career collections moved to the Brooklyn Public Library's Central Branch, and a temporary branch opened at 109 Remsen Street. The replacement Brooklyn Heights branch opened in June 2022 at the base of the new 34-story condominium.
The library's lineage predates the Brooklyn Public Library itself: the Brooklyn Athenaeum and Reading Room was founded in 1852, and the Mercantile Library Association followed in 1857, sharing a building with it. Librarian Stephen Buttrick Noyes left in 1866 for the Library of Congress, then returned in 1869 and prepared a catalog issued in 1881.
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