20 percent, add a new entrance at 40th Street, create the Center for Research and Learning for high-school and college students, add elevator banks, and expand space for exhibitions and researchers. At the time of approval, $308 million of funds had been raised, and construction was expected to be completed in 2021. The renovations began in July 2018 with the start of construction on the Lenox and Astor Room, a scholar's center, on the second floor. The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the 40th Street entrance with minor modifications in March 2019. That August, the NYPL announced that the lions outside the Main Branch's front entrance would be restored in September and October at a cost of $250,000. Divisions There are nine divisions at the New York Public Library's Main Branch, of which eight are special collections. General Research Division The General Research Division is the main division of the Main Branch and the only one that is not a special collection. The division is based out of the Rose Main Reading Room and the Bill Blass Public Catalog Room. The division contains 43 million items in more than 430 languages. Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History and Genealogy The Irma and Paul Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History and Genealogy houses one of the largest publicly available genealogical collections in North America. Though the division contains many New York City-related documents, it also contains documents collected from towns, cities, counties, and states across the U.S., as well as genealogies from around the world. The division acquired the holdings of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society in 2008. Map Division The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division was created in 1898. It contains more than 20,000 atlases and 433,000 sheet maps, dating to as early as the 16th century. The collection includes maps on local, regional, national, and global scales as well as city maps, topographic maps, and maps in antiquarian and digitized formats. Manuscripts and Archives Division The Manuscripts and Archives Division comprises over 5,500 collections. These include, 700 cuneiform tablets, 160 illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, notable people's and entities' papers, publishing archives, social and economics collections, and papers about the New York Public Library's history. The division supplements similar divisions at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, and the New York Public Library for the Performing