On June 24, 2026, sometime late afternoon, encircling the wooden conference table of the Department of Records and Information Services headquarters at 31 Chambers, where on the walls, assembled as asymmetrical triptychs are framed historical black-and-white photographs of bridges, street scenes, or graphic news clippings, three DORIS staff sat. At the center of the table two cell phones recorded a conversation: Commissioner Smith-Cruz with Assistant Commissioner Cobb, sat across from the Deputy Librarian, Julie Robbins. At the eve of her retirement, what began as an interview quickly became a recalling of the role and its impact on our city’s records. Below is a snippet of the conversation.
New Yorkers Love Books!
Book Sale in the Atrium at 31 Chambers Street, November 7, 2025.
Staff at the Municipal Archives and Library weeded surplus books from our collections for the purpose of holding a two-day book sale of items that might be of interest to the general public.
The sale was scheduled for two days, Friday, November 7, and Saturday, November 8. Because of the overwhelming response by New Yorkers, almost everything was sold on Friday and the Saturday sale is cancelled.
The turnout was unprecedented. Our prior sale of similar deaccessioned books in 2016 had much lower participation. Today, by contrast, people were lined up by 9:00 a.m. to get in. Twice, admission had to be paused because the number of people in the lobby was close to the limit under the fire / safety rules.
New Yorkers love books and bargains! Both of which they got today.
If you missed the sale and are interested in an online auction of exceptional items, please check out our online auction https://on.nyc.gov/auction where twelve volumes are on the auction block until Friday November 14. In addition, we still have a limited number of original redeemed vintage bonds and stock certificates dating from the 1920s to the 1980s offered for sale on our support page: https://www.archives.nyc/support
Book Sale in the Atrium at 31 Chambers Street, November 7, 2025.