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Like other Goethe-Instituts around the globe, the diminutive New York branch acts as an ambassador of German culture by presenting rotating exhibitions and events and maintaining an up-to-date lending library. Its skinny limestone Beaux Arts townhouse on Fifth Avenue’s Museum Mile, dwarfed by apartment buildings and art world behemoths, has room for just one six-to-eight week show at any given time. Paintings, photography, and occasional sculpture by contemporary German artists are spotlighted in an airy, square room whose two round-arched French windows face the Metropolitan Museum. At the other end of the second floor lies an auditorium used for conferences, chamber music recitals, film screenings, and private get-togethers. A grand, slightly spiraled staircase with plush green fabric and a detailed wrought-iron banister leads down to the entry and library. Its shelves stock nearly 10,000 English- and German-language books as well as German newspapers, magazines, DVDs, and CDs. Tidy and welcoming, the space is outfitted with a few computers and flat-screen TVs, a blonde wood table, and lounge chairs. The staff can field walk-in information requests and reference questions submitted online. — Kate Appleton