The historian David McCullough has described the New York Public Library as one of the five most important libraries in the United States; the others are the Library of Congress, the Boston Public Library, and the university libraries of Harvard and Yale.
Historik David McCullough opísal New York Public Library ako jednu z piatich najvýznamnejších knižníc v Spojených štátoch, ostatnými sú Library of Congress, Boston Public Library, a univerzitné knižnice v Harvarde a Yale.