The guestroom decor is the same throughout: deep mahogany woods, pale gold rice-paper wallcoverings, upholstered leather headboards with wood surrounds and mantle-like cornices. Lots of mirrors, granite and marble, muted earth-tones in both the soft furnishings and the carpeting, opaque glass inserts, and a really, really effective use of space make the rooms themselves impressive, so much so that you don't really mind their "coziness."

Most hotel rooms in New York City are very small. This hotel's guestrooms are no exception, but instead of using light minimalist furnishings and the birch-veneered cubes and shelving so popular in boutique-hotel-makeovers, the hotelier went in the exact opposite direction. Dark wood - and lots of it - great lighting options, and quality furniture scaled to the room sizes make these spaces both elegant and appealing. (The twelve-foot ceiling height and large framed mirrors help to make the rooms feel more spacious than they are as well.) The individualization comes from the room's Dewey Decimal theme: The artwork and reading selections are chosen according to the topic number.

There are three roomtypes and one unique guestroom. The .06s are all king-bedded junior suites with a bank of windows overlooking Madison Avenue. The .03s and .04s are "petite rooms," with a double bed, and the .01s, .02s, and .05s "deluxe queens." The Love Suite has a king bed and a terrace. All rooms come with a built-in desk/dresser/TV-and-minibar armoire. The desk and dresser space is topped with a gold, black and tan granite, repeated on the bathroom sink vanity. All rooms have complimentary T1 Internet service, but the hotel does not "rent" nor provide ethernet cards. If your laptop doesn't have one (mine doesn't) you can use the conveniently placed modem port, but you have to pay a per-minute charge to go on-line. (There is also a beautifully-equipped "business center" on the second floor, which is complimentary for guest use. There are two computers and a printer; it's available 24 hours.) Rooms also come with cable TV including Showtime, and VCRs for which you can borrow - complimentary - a video from the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Best Films Ever Made. This is provided just in case you can't find anything to read among the hotel's 6000 titles.

The bathroom in room 900.01, while not large nor opulent, will join my list of "Best Bathrooms Ever."

Rather than go with the ubiquitous marble facing, The Library's designers chose instead a taupe and tan tile scheme that works beautifully, especially since the dark wood extends to the sink cladding and undersink shelving. The door, too, is heavy mahogany, but instead of being solid, it has panes of opaque glass, and next to the tub there is an inset panel of opaque glass panes in mahogany that faces the bedroom (you can't see through either the door nor the panel.) The bathroom ceiling has been dropped at the sides to accommodate the spot lighting, but it coves up into an arch in the middle, an architectural bonus. Best of all, there is one little light in a Deco-style fixture that points upward. If you don't need the bright lights for make-up or shaving, this little bit of light is perfect. It's like taking a candle bath without the candle. There's a phone next to the toilet should you need to sell your stock at an inconvenient moment, or need to grab an incoming call while using the facilities.

The bathtub looked really shallow at first glance, but it's slightly sunken so is deeper than it appears. Natura^tm bath products fit the "mood" of the hotel; bathrobes, too, are provided for each guest. Lighting in the bathroom is incandescent, thank heavens, although the rooms themselves use a well-masked fluorescent bulb in the lamps.

I couldn't take the stress. I got some (complimentary) wine and cheese and then took a bath.

The 14th floor presents two lovely sitting areas and two outdoor terraces. The Writer's Den is a clubby-feeling corner with deep armchairs and a glowing fire, perfect for rainy days or mid-winter; its brick-enclosed terrace provides several small tables where you can take your breakfast on a nice day, or your wine (also complimentary) in the evening. The Poetry Corner is a conservatory-roofed room with a terrace as well, this one with park benches and lots of foliage. Light, bright and cheerful, The Poetry Corner offers several seating arrangements and of course plenty of books to enjoy. Between the two is a bar on which will be found the complimentary champagne and wine in the evenings. This floor can be closed off for private functions or celebrations; you supply your own bartender.

The staff at The Library is pleasant and helpful without being overly familiar. If you need technical help with anything, the hotel's engineer, Lubo, is a genius who will step in and do anything and everything to help you resolve your problem. I know this first-hand, since my laptop went hinky and - on the same day - I dropped my digital camera, dislodging the lens housing. Lubo refused to leave until he had solved the problems, both of them, even though his family was waiting for him in the lobby. All this breakage was too much stress for me; I got some complimentary wine and cheese and then (after Lubo left) I took a bath.

I need coffee before I can get dressed enough to go get coffee.

As much as I love the self-service cappucino, I really wish there had been an in-room coffee maker. I am a person who, on waking, needs coffee before I can manage to get enough clothing on to go to the second floor lounge to get coffee.

These minor issues aside, the hotel is a lovely example of a true "boutique" hotel, and even though it's themed, it isn't pretentious. The carefully constructed design could have easily descended into the kitsch or the precious in less able hands. I love the look of the building, especially from the Madison Avenue side: It's just one room wide and seems to combine faux-Italian rococo with 1930s Art Deco. The fact that it has only 60 rooms appeals to me as well, and of course the book theme in the area of the city's great libraries is apt. The redesign is appropriate, evoking the hushed tones of reading rooms. Children are welcome, pets are not.

There is a very pretty restaurant, Branzini, in the hotel, although it is separately owned and managed. Unfortunately, both the cuisine (contemporary Tuscan) and the service are spotty. The cavatelli with Italian sausage that I had during lunch with friends was so delicious that I asked for a half order to go for dinner on the next evening. Instead of being the rich, saucy meal that I had had the day before, it was dry and tasteless, and the "half-order" equated to less than a third of a full portion. Slopped into the bottom of an over-large aluminum container, with no bread or rolls and no utensils, the presentation was terrible. It looked like someone's leftovers. The meals can be ordered through room service at The Library; perhaps the restaurant makes an effort to present the food more appealingly than it was when I got the take-out order, but the quality was poor and presentation can't cure that.

This hotel has been the darling of pundits and reviewers since it first opened in 2000. Of course. Craig Spitzer owned it then and he owns it now.

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