[originaltext] One of New York’s most beautiful and valuable buildings is in

One of New York’s most beautiful and valuable buildings is in danger. The New York Public Library, in the heart of the city at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, may have to close its doors.
    The library is a very special place. Even though it is in the busiest part of the city, it has grass and trees around it, and benches for people to sit on. Even more unusual in crowded New York, its rooms are very large. The roof of the Main Reading Room is 51 feet high. Here, a reader can sit and think in comfort.
    And what books there are to work with! The library has over 30 million books and paintings. It owns one of the first copies of a Shakespeare play, a Bible printed by Gutenberg in the 15th century, and a letter written by Columbus in which he tells of finding the new world.
    Every New Yorker can see and use the library’s riches for free.
    But the cost of running the library has risen rapidly in recent years, and the library does not have enough money to continue its work. In the past, it was open every evening, and also on Saturdays and Sundays. Now it is closed at those times, to save money.
    The library is trying in every possible way to raise more money to meet its increasing costs. Well-known New York writers and artists are trying to help. So are the universities, whose students use the library, and the government of New York City and New York State. But the problem remains serious.
    Yet a way must be found to save the library, because, as one writer said, "The Public Library is the most important building in New York City--it contains all our knowledge."