The New York State Library is a
research library in
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
, United States. It was established in 1818 to serve the
state government of New York and is part of the
New York State Education Department
The New York State Education Department (NYSED) is the department of the New York state government responsible for the supervision for all public schools in New York and all standardized testing, as well as the production and administration o ...
. The library is one of the
largest in the world by number of items held, with over 20 million cataloged items in 2011.
The library and its sister institutions, the
New York State Museum and
New York State Archives, are housed in the
Cultural Education Center
The Cultural Education Center is on the south side of the Empire State Plaza in Albany, New York. Located on Madison Avenue, it faces northward towards the New York State Capitol building. Construction of the building, which was designed in th ...
, which is part of the
Empire State Plaza
The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza (known commonly as the Empire State Plaza, and also as the South Mall) is a complex of several state government buildings in downtown Albany, New York.
The complex was built between 1965 a ...
, a large complex of state government offices in downtown Albany.
The New York State Library was formerly located in the
New York State Capitol and then across Washington Avenue in the
New York State Education Building
The New York State Education Building (commonly known as the State Education Building) is a state office building in Albany, New York, Albany, New York (state), New York. It houses offices of the New York State Education Department (NYSED) and was ...
. An annex containing books, journals, and newspapers is still located in the basement