The location of the stacks under the reading room was the concept of the first librarian, John Shaw Billings.

WSJ: New York Public Library | Undertaking Its Destruction | By Ada Louise Huxtable

"The magician who lives in the closet called me a Muggle, " says head librarian Jen Spota, after her first day of work two years ago.

WSJ: Years of Magical Thinking

" Jesse Nichols, a librarian on the Senate Finance Committee and the first black appointed to a clerical position in the Senate, recalled that "Senator Gore used to come in and out of the clear blue sky he would say, 'Jesse, bring me a Coca-Cola.

CNN: Excerpt: 'The Prince of Tennessee: The Rise of Al Gore'