More about MaRLI

By Prof. Monica Berger
 
The dilemma: I am preparing a definitive annotated bibliography of the scholarly monographic literature on popular music. I need access to approximately 500-600 scholarly monographs on popular music. I could use interlibrary loan or visit the New York
Public Library (NYPL) for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center (which is a research library and has a good percentage of the books I need) but either course would be onerous and inefficient for our interlibrary loan staff (and that of the lending library) or the staff of the NYPL. Unfortunately, all NYPL research division books require some form of paging which means the user must fill out a form for each book request. There is almost no browsing. Borrowing is not allowed for research division materials. Books that are older are warehoused in Princeton, New Jersey and it can often take considerable time for a book to be delivered. To add to the frustration of waiting for off-site materials, the NYPL is not the most ideal in terms of a quiet space to write or assistance with problems. The Performing Arts division of NYPL is open very limited hours as well and the trip from my home in Brooklyn often would take up to an hour.
The solution: MaRLI. What is MaRLI? Now in its second year, MaRLI began as a pilot program to provide select, scholarly NYPL patrons, in particular, CUNY faculty and graduate students, access to New York University (NYU) and Columbia University’s libraries. In addition, CUNY scholars are eligible to request workspace at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. MaRLI patrons can borrow select books from NYPL research divisions. Access to electronic resources onsite is available at NYU and Columbia. I used only NYU’s Bobst Library for my work and found it a tremendous resource: most of the books I needed were easily accessible in the stacks, the hours even in the summer were quite extensive, the catalog worked marvelously, and there was no problem finding quiet spaces to write.
How does MaRLI work? A New York Public Library card is needed to get started. See below for the link to the application for MaRLI. Note that eligibility for a NYPL card is given on the MaRLI form. Once you have been approved, you will receive notification and instructions by email. All I had to do was print out the email, bring my NYPL card and a photo ID and go to the Library Privileges Service Window at NYU’s Bobst Library. I was issued a card with a library barcode that allows me to log into NYU’s library systems and request materials on loan in addition to other privileges. Loan periods are extremely generous as well.
I highly recommend getting MaRLI privileges and taking advantage of the impressive collections at NYU and Columbia. The effort in getting set up is minimal and the advantages are many. MaRLI is truly MaRveL(I)ous!