Hunters Point Library Celebrates Opening Day With 1,355 Visitors

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — The new Hunters Point Library welcomed 1,355 visitors on its first day open to the public, the Queens Public Library announced.

The $41 million library was open for just over two hours Tuesday, after city officials marked the historic occasion with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

In that time, the thousand-plus visitors took out a total of 840 items — or roughly seven items a minute, according to a social media post.

In just over 2 hours yesterday, #HuntersPoint Library welcomed 1,355 visitors and circulated 840 items—that’s 7 items a minute. Hunters Point was possibly the busiest library in the country during that time! We're so happy our customers were excited to use their new library! pic.twitter.com/OMxmVdxWWR
— Queens Public Library (@QPLNYC) September 25, 2019

The library's long-awaited opening Tuesday came a decade after the plan started taking shape.

Designed by Steven Holl Architects, the building houses an environmental education center, a cyber room, a meeting room, a children's room, a roof deck and 50,000 books, including a couple thousand each in Spanish and Chinese.

: Today we joined City officials, members of the community, and many more to celebrate the opening of the #HuntersPoint Community Library in Queens pic.twitter.com/3XcuZSPyFm
— NYC DDC (@NYCDDC) September 24, 2019