Stacks by Tiffany

Pratt Institute’s Brooklyn Library

The Pratt Institute’s library is one of my favorite places in Brooklyn and one of the quietest I know. Pratt is an art school, and sometimes I attribute its almost uncanny silence to the student body (or its absence), sequestered in art studios rather than the stacks and reading rooms. The larger surroundings also help: Pratt lies at the heart of the residential neighborhood of Clinton Hill, surrounded by a grassy park and streets lined with 19th century brownstones and Greek Revival mansions. Sometimes, as I sit imagining the elevated …