I made a stop at the main NY Public Library on 5th Ave and 42nd St. 

Three notable things.  

1. Free wireless Internet. 3.13Mb/s down, 9.24Mb/s up. (Not a typo, it's asymetric, not the usual way. Probably because there are hundreds of people using the free Internet and most of them are downloading, not uploading.) 

2. Everyone in the main reading room has a laptop. There's power at every desk. 

3. They have free blogging classes every Tuesday night.