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Return library materials
Return your BPL library materials during open hours.
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After-hours Returns
Return your BPL materials in our exterior book drop when the branch is closed.
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Meeting Rooms
To see available spaces, review BPL’s meeting room policy, and request a reservation, visit our room reservation website.
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Extended Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi signal that can reach up to 300 feet outside the library, available 24/7; learn more about Bklyn Reach.
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Outdoor Services
Offering outdoor seating, browsing, programs and more—weather permitting. Learn more about BPL Outdoors.
Planning for Cortelyou Library began in 1969, but it was not until 1983, after years of patience and hard work by Flatbush residents, that construction was completed and the branch opened. In 2021, the Friends of Cortelyou Library raised over $40,000 to enhance the branch with a revised layout, new reading tables and chairs, new furniture in the children’s area and a teen area. This work happened alongside a New York State-funded project to replace the main room’s shelves, lighting and flooring.
Cortelyou has a distinctive, welcoming entry, as well as a mural of bright blue triangles that wrap around the building. Cortelyou Library celebrates its community's creativity and professionalism by showcasing Pakistani music, Bengali fiction, Russian poetry and West Indian novels.
Friends of Cortelyou Library
Friends of Cortelyou Library is a group of organized volunteers who help our neighborhood library through advocacy, fundraising and promotion. If you are interested in becoming a Friend of Cortelyou Library, ask a staff member for details or email [email protected] for more information.
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Staff Picks
- NYC Picture Books
- Brooklyn History & Memoirs
The adventures of taxi dogDebra Barracca
The curious gardenPeter Brown
UptownBryan Collier
Pet of the MetLydia Freeman
The man who walked between the towersMordicai Gerstein
Mermaids on paradeMelanie Hope Greenberg
Little TootHardie Gramatky
ChinatownWilliam Low
SubwayChristoph Niemann
Twenty-one elephants and still standingApril Jones Prince
Wow! : New York CityPuck
Tar BeachFaith Ringgold
A teeny, tiny babyAmy Schwartz
In the night kitchenMaurice Sendak
BlackoutJohn Rocco
MadlenkaPeter Sís
The gardenerSarah Stewart
Kay Thompson's Eloise : a book for precocious grown upsKay Thompson
How little Lori visited Times SquareAmos Vogel
Lyle, Lyle, crocodile.Bernard Waber
B is for BrooklynSelina Alko
My taxi ridePaul DuBois Jacobs
You can't take a balloon into the Metropolitan MuseumJacqueline Preiss Weitzman
Knuffle Bunny : a cautionary taleMo Willems
Chicken and CatSara Varon
Me and Momma and Big JohnMara Rockliff
Ollie : the purple elephantJarrett Krosoczka
Cool Daddy RatKristyn Crow
Down in the subwayMiriam Cohen
A walk in New YorkSalvatore Rubbino
The lonely phoneboothPeter Ackerman
Another night at the museumMilan Trenc
AbuelaArthur Dorros
Prospect Park : Olmsted and Vaux's Brooklyn masterpieceDavid P Colley
The Brooklyn nobody knows : an urban walking guideWilliam B Helmreich
Brooklyn by name : how the neighborhoods, streets, parks, bridges, and more got their namesLeonard Benardo
The great bridge : the epic story of the building of the Brooklyn BridgeDavid G McCullough
Brooklyn's promised land : the free black community of Weeksville, New YorkJudith Wellman
In the country of Brooklyn : inspiration to the worldPeter Golenbock
The Three Graces of Raymond Street : murder, madness, sex, and politics in 1870s BrooklynRobert E (Robert Emmet) Murphy
February houseSherill Tippins
Two cents plain : my Brooklyn boyhoodMartin Lemelman
I remember Brooklyn : memories from favorite sons and daughtersRalph Monti
Song of Brooklyn : an oral history of America's favorite boroughMarc Eliot