20 New York Public Library people

The President of the New York Public Library serves as the chief executive officer of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and exercises general supervision over its affairs. The president is elected yearly by the New York Public Library Board of Trustees. John Bigelow served as the first president from the library's founding in 1895 to his death in 1911. The current president is Anthony Marx, who has served since taking office in 2011. The president received a salary of $781,000. Upon the urging of Bigelow, an executor of Samuel J. Tilden's will, the NYPL was formed when the Lenox and Astor libraries merged in 1895. Both the Astor and the Lenox maintained presidents for the duration of their existence. The three libraries have had a total of twenty presidents.

Tony Ageh OBE, is the New York Public Library's Chief Digital Officer having previously been Controller of Archive Development at the BBC.

Edwin Hatfield Anderson was a prominent American library leader during the first third of the 20th century, serving as director of both the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the New York Public Library. He also served as the president of the American Library Association in 1913-14.

Henryk Arctowski, born Henryk Artzt, was a Polish scientist and explorer. Living in exile for a large part of his life, he was one of the first persons to winter in Antarctica and became an internationally renowned meteorologist. He was instrumental in restoring Polish independence after the First World War. Several geographical features, the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station and a medal of the National Academy of Sciences are named in his honor.

John Shaw Billings was an American librarian, building designer, and surgeon. However, he is best known as the modernizer of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office of the Army. His work with Andrew Carnegie led to the development and his service as the first director of the New York Public Library. Billings oversaw the building of the Surgeon General's Library, which was the nation's first comprehensive library for medicine. Because of his approach to improving public health and hospitals, Billings headed the U.S. Census Office's division of Vital Statistics and oversaw statistical compilation of censuses. With Robert Fletcher, Billings developed Index Medicus, a monthly guide to contemporary medicine that ran for 16 months until his retirement at the Medical Museum and Library. At the latter end of his work with the military, Billings aided the United States' Secretary of the Treasury in adjusting the organization of the military hospitals. With his growing credibility in the medical field, Billings also oversaw work done to aid those struggling with yellow fever. He also served as Johns Hopkins Hospital's medical advisor, authored reports regarding criteria for medical and nursing curricula, and hospital design. Although his name is not included in the infamous "Big Four" at Hopkins, Billings made major contributions, by the means of the Johns Hopkins Hospital's architecture, infrastructure, and curriculum for the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Arthur Curley was an American librarian who was listed as one of the 100 most important library leaders of the 20th century by journal American Libraries.

David Sean Ferriero is an American librarian, library administrator, and the 10th Archivist of the United States. He previously served as the Director of the New York Public Library, and before that, the University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke University. Prior to his Duke position, he worked for 31 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology library. Ferriero is the first librarian to serve as Archivist of the United States.

Richard James Horatio Gottheil was an English American Semitic scholar, Zionist, and founding father of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity.

Harry John Grumpelt was an American high jumper and accountant. He competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics and finished sixth. Grumpelt won the AAU title in 1910 (indoors) and 1911 (outdoors); he placed second outdoors in 1908, 1910 and 1912, and third in 1914. Grumpelt was bursar of the New York Public Library until his 1950 retirement.

Harry Miller Lydenberg was an American librarian, author and book conservationist. He is best known for his decades-long career as a librarian and eventual director for the New York Public Library, American liaison to the international library community, as well as one of the 100 most important library innovators of the 20th century. His written works describe his preferred library reference, collection and conservation practices, as well as his knowledge of the New York Public Library.

Keyes DeWitt Metcalf was an American librarian. He has been identified as one of the 100 most important leaders in librarianship by the journal American Libraries. In a career spanning over 75 years, he worked in various roles at the New York Public Library and served as the director of the Harvard University library system. He was known for his expertise in planning and designing research libraries.

Anne Carroll Moore was an American educator, writer and advocate for children's libraries.

Lawrence Quincy Mumford was an American librarian. He was the eleventh Librarian of the United States Congress from 1954 to 1974.

Paul North Rice was an American librarian who served as Chief of the Reference Department of the New York Public Library, Executive Secretary of the Association of Research Libraries and President of the American Library Association.

Margaret Clara Scoggin was one of the first librarians to expand dramatically upon the idea of young adult public librarianship. Scoggin implemented several programs throughout her career at the New York Public Library that placed intense importance on young adult readers, which ultimately inspired the ever-improving teen librarianship seen today. She said of young adults, “They are a vital force which the library can both develop and use. They are the voters of tomorrow, the potential adult users and supporters of the public library, the emergent community to whom, theoretically, the public library belongs.” In 1999, American Libraries named her one of the "100 Most Important Leaders We Had in the 20th Century".

Minnie Earl Sears formulated the Sears List of Subject Headings, a simplification of the Library of Congress Subject Headings. In 1999, American Libraries named her one of the "100 Most Important Leaders We Had in the 20th Century".

Carolyn Farquhar Ulrich was an American librarian. She created the Ulrich's Periodicals Directory in 1932.

David Harris Underhill was an American librarian and author. He was a librarian for the St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church in Williamsburgh and the Astor Library. He was librarian in charge of the newspaper room at the New York Public Library. Underhill helped to organize the Underhill Society of America in 1892, and served as Secretary and Family Historian until his death in 1936. He was also an active author, editor, and compiler with several published works to his credit.

Iris Weinshall is the Chief Operating Officer of The New York Public Library, former vice chancellor at the City University of New York and a former commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation. Weinshall was appointed Chief Operating Officer by the Library in July 2014, and she began her tenure on September 1, 2014. She is the wife of U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer.

Kevin Young is an American poet and teacher of poetry and the incoming director of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture. Author of 11 books and editor of eight others, Young has been a winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as a finalist for the National Book Award for his 2003 collection Jelly Roll: A Blues. Young has served as Atticus Haygood Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University and curator of Emory's Raymond Danowski Poetry Library, as well as Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library. In March 2017, Young became poetry editor of The New Yorker.