<p>Does anyone have a list ranking college libraries (over 1 million volumes, divided by public/private)?
Or perhaps a list ranking on-campus art museums?</p>
<p>You cannot rank libraries or art museums. However, Harvard and Yale are hard to match where those factors are concerned. Other than those two, you have the following:</p>
<p>Columbia University
Cornell University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Chicago
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Texas-Austin</p>
<p>If you're interested in LACs, Oberlin is pretty much impossible to beat in this regard. We've got one of the largest undergraduate library systems in the country, period: four different libraries (one main one, plus separate facilities for the art, science, and music libraries) with over 2 million volumes and a noted special collections department, recognized by the ALA and the Association of College and Research Libraries. Not bad at all for a school of our size.</p>
<p>The college museum was the first west of the Alleghenies and is ranked on par with the ones at Harvard and Yale. Not only does it have over 12,000 pieces, but the Art Rental program allows students to borrow paintings by artists like Renoir, Warhol, and Picasso for $5 per semester... and no, none have ever been damaged :)</p>
<p>Put it this way....Harvard has the forth largest library in the world, 2nd is the US after the Library of Congress</p>
<p>If the Princeton Review website ever gets navigable again, they have a ranking of the Top 20 college libraries. You can take their ranking with a grain of salt, but it's probably safe to say that whatever weaknesses the schools on their top 20 list have, they don't include library resources.</p>
<p>I know that it basically goes like this:
Harvard
Yale
Berkeley/Illinois</p>
<p>With regards to collection size and quality in most rankings</p>
<p>Agreed its very difficult to judge a Libary or Art Museum based solely on numbers of volumes. Princeton Review has a system and you can accept that or not...or use it as a blunt instrument....a starting point or general perception...which may or may not be a matter for consideration on applications. Sadly, in my purview, Libraries are becoming dinosaurs and kids often do "research" on their laptops using search engines. That is not "research" as I was taught, and search engines may be quick, but they cannot replace the mental charge one used to get wandering the stacks, opening books, and discerning thought with several books before you on a table in a study room of a library. Something is lost in the translation, it seems to me. </p>
<p>I think the Walsh Library at Fordham University in New York is ranked around number 5 by Princeton Review. Having been inside this glorious library, I can attest to its size, depth and being an incredible resource to students, faculty and professionals.</p>
<p>Ranked Lists for Institutions for 2006
Missing values are indicated by a period (.).
Rank Institution name Volumes In Library
1 HARVARD 15826570.000
2 YALE 12368757.000
3 TORONTO 10536868.000
4 ILLINOIS, URBANA 10524935.000
5 CALIF., BERKELEY 10094417.000
6 COLUMBIA 9455312.0000
7 TEXAS 9022363.0000
8 MICHIGAN 8273050.0000
9 CALIF., LOS ANGELES 8157182.0000
10 WISCONSIN 8015081.0000
11 CORNELL 7785263.0000
12 CHICAGO 7765583.0000
13 INDIANA 7374784.0000
14 WASHINGTON 7111065.0000
15 MINNESOTA 6713629.0000
16 PRINCETON 6618464.0000
17 ALBERTA 6416254.0000
18 OHIO STATE 6180744.0000
19 PENNSYLVANIA 5880460.0000
20 BRITISH COLUMBIA 5820527.0000
21 NORTH CAROLINA 5816677.0000
22 DUKE 5665241.0000
23 ARIZONA 5533482.0000
24 NEW YORK 5144879.0000
25 VIRGINIA 5102954.0000</p>
<p>Never underestimate the value of a great library. Most college and university libraries can get any title you need through inter-library loan, but when you just want to browse a title to see whether it's something you'll need, there's nothing like having it on-campus. IMO this is one of the most important limitations of many LACs. It probably doesn't matter as much to underclassmen, but to upperclassmen attempting to do serious research, it can be a problem.</p>
<p>And note how many of the Top 25 are large publics. Take out the Canadian schools and it's well over half.</p>
<p>Yep, those are HUGE libraries. So Princeton Review's ranking is based on other factors as well. </p>
<p>Fordham University Libraries are at three major locations: the Rose Hill campus in the Bronx; the Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan; and the Marymount campus in Westchester County. Fordham University Libraries own more than 2,000,000 volumes and subscribe to over 15,500 periodicals and 19,000 electronic journals and is a depository for United States Government documents. Fordham University Libraries own many special collections of rare books and manuscripts covering a variety of subjects including Americana, Jesuitica, the French Revolution, and Criminology. The library also provides access to over 60,000 electronic books. </p>
<p>The Walsh Library at Rose Hill contains over 1,000,000 volumes and 380,000 government documents. It is named after William Walsh, a Fordham Alumnus and member of the University Board of Trustees, who made a major contribution toward its construction. All Rose Hill Library services including the Science Library, Audio Visuals, Electronic Services, Government Documents, Archives, Special Collections, Microforms, and Fordham Dissertations are housed here.</p>
<p>The Gerald M. Quinn Library at Lincoln Center contains some 500,000 volumes and is named in memory of the late Dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center. In addition to a general collection serving Fordham College at Lincoln Center, the Quinn Library also has strong collections in business, education, and social service serving the three graduate schools on that campus.</p>
<p>The Gloria Gaines Library at Marymount houses over 130,000 volumes and serves the students at Marymount College as well as the Fordham graduate students in business, education, and social service.Fordham Law School Library is administered as a separate library, but is open for use by all students and faculty. Its collection numbers over 326,000 bound volumes, 1,000,000 microforms and 5,270 periodicals. Subject strengths include American and international law, with many foreign legal sources including European Community law and international antitrust law.</p>
<p>Apparently US News hasn't gotten around to an issue devoted to college library rankings (give it time).</p>
<p>The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) - part of the American Library Association - does yearly name a "best" library in the university, college, and community college categories.</p>
<p>ALA</a> | ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries winners announced </p>
<p>Carleton won the best college category this past year, McMaster the university category.</p>
<p>Carleton's "Librarian Trading Cards" (yes, real trading cards free for the taking at the reference desks) are pretty classically Carleton. This is the latest batch on display:</p>
<p>Carleton</a> College: Gould Library: Trading Card Gallery</p>
<p>barrons: where's Stanford on that list? It has over 8 million volumes in its library (probably more today).</p>
<p>One benefit of a university that has many funds for its libraries is that you can request books, journals, etc. if the library does not have it. If it's well-staffed and well-funded, you can get them pretty fast.</p>
<p>I don't know. It's right from the academic libraries site via UVa link.</p>
<p>^ Looking at that link, Stanford's data goes to 2002. Maybe it stopped affiliation with the Association in 2003.</p>
<p>In 2002, Stanford's volumes held were 7,698,099.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. Carleton and Oberlin sound like great places too. </p>
<p>I knew that I had seen those kind of numbers, but couldn't find them. In these days when Harvard and Yale, if I recall correctly, are scanning all their volumes into a Google database most people (not me) probably don't think libraries still matter that much. And obviously, a state university system can access books pretty easily so effectively you can draw on many libraries. I was especially curious where the largest 100 private university libraries were. Students in Baltimore/Wash. D.C. of course have easy access to the LOC (Library of Congress) and for federal publications there are depository libraries all around the country (some on university campuses). But without those other resources, it is interesting to see where investments have been made to provide sizeable on campus libraries.</p>
<p>^^ Stanford is also scanning volumes into Google. The UC system has an interlibrary exchange, so combined they have over 30 million volumes, I think. I also remember reading that Stanford and Berkeley have an library exchange agreement, too.</p>
<p>In terms of art, Yale is widely-regarded as one of the best institutions for the study of art.</p>
<p>Michigan is also scanning the entire content of its library into Google.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Stanford is also scanning volumes into Google. The UC system has an interlibrary exchange, so combined they have over 30 million volumes, I think. I also remember reading that Stanford and Berkeley have an library exchange agreement, too.
[/quote]
Correct.</p>
<p>Stanford, UC Berkeley and UT-Austin have an exchange program called the Research Library Cooperative Program. </p>
<p>However, this program is only available to graduate students and faculty, not undergraduates.</p>
<p>SULAIR:</a> RLCP: Eligibility and Registration</p>
<p>Berkeley and Stanford grad students just need their current student IDs to borrow from either library. To borrow from the UT-Austin library, Berkeley and Stanford grad students need a RLCP card.</p>
<p>Likewise, UT-Austin grad students can borrow from the Stanford and Berkeley libraries with a RLCP card.</p>