If you were to pick a college based solely on its library architecture...?

Parents Forum
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<p>Touring many colleges with 2 kids, we saw some astoundingly beautiful buildings. Also some real duds. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course. Just saw this article on "Most Beautiful College Libraries." America's</a> Most Beautiful College Libraries - Articles | Travel + Leisure</p>

<p>Since I love love love libraries, I think I might have been swayed by one of these. What college would you select if based only on its library?</p>

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<p>There was a thread on here some time ago about beautiful libraries - you might want to search for it. It had great pictures attached.</p>

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<p>Had to laugh about the U of Chicago library - which is an addition to what some consider one of the ugliest libraries in the world. (It’s in an architectural style known as “New Brutalism”.) I actually think from the outside it could be worse, though I’m not a fan of corrugated concrete, but inside it’s dreadful, the ceilings are much too low for the size of the spaces, it makes you feel like they are going to fall down on you. Anyway most of the addition (the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library) is all run by robots, and hardly counts as a library at all IMO. It is very interesting though here’s a youtube video of how it works: [The</a> Joe and Rika Mansueto Library: How It Works - YouTube](<a href=“The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library: How It Works - YouTube”>The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library: How It Works - YouTube) And here’s a picture of the original Regenstein Library it’s attached to: [The</a> Joseph Regenstein Library](<a href=“The University of Chicago Library - The University of Chicago Library”>The University of Chicago Library - The University of Chicago Library) [The</a> Joseph Regenstein Library](<a href=“The University of Chicago Library - The University of Chicago Library”>The University of Chicago Library - The University of Chicago Library)</p>

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<p>Columbia. It’s both impressive and beautiful.</p>

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<p>The architecture of the library would be a silly reason to pick a college but there’s another thread on CC entitled something like “Silliest reasons your child picked his/her college”.</p>

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<p>U Toronto, Robarts Library
<a href=“http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Robarts_Library.JPG/800px-Robarts_Library.JPG[/url]”>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Robarts_Library.JPG/800px-Robarts_Library.JPG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Wow, mathmom, have you actually been inside Mansueto? I doubt you would have posted what you did if you had experienced it, but who knows, to each her own!</p>

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<p>DD’s favorite library: Wesleyan. The ugliest? Bard, hands down.</p>

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<p>Northwestern’s main library is almost identical in look to the U of Chicago one - that ugly concrete blocky, neo-Brutalist style. However, it was attached to the beautiful old Deering Library, which is quite iconic. </p>

<p>40 years ago, for whatever reason, however, the entrance to Deering was closed. Thanks to donations from the Deering and McCormick families (and I hope their kids do get an admissions boost!), the beautiful old Deering Library entrance has just reopened.<br>
[The</a> Doors to Knowledge: Northwestern Magazine - Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/summer2012/campuslife/the-doors-to-knowledge.html]The”>The Doors to Knowledge: Northwestern Magazine - Northwestern University)</p>

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<p>Oh no I haven’t been in it. It was under construction when my kid visited. I’m not a fan of glass domes as architecture, but I do realize they’ve added a large reading room space at the top level and if you like that sort of room it’s probably great - at least as long as the solar shading works properly. To me half the pleasure of the library is roaming the stacks and the happy discoveries of finding a bunch of much better books shelved in the vicinity of the one you looked up. That’s hard to accomplish in a computer run system. I stand by my assessment of Regenstein’s interior though. I loved the rest of the campus and I didn’t actually think the exterior clashed as badly with the rest of Chicago as some other modern additions do to the campuses they are on. (Think the glass tower in the middle of Caltech’s campus where a turquoise domed Spanish revival building was originally planned, or Carnegie Mellon’s aluminum library which thumbs its nose at all the green roofs and yellow brick of the central campus.)</p>

<p>Bard library was pretty ugly and it was where we saw a student land flat on her back on ice that had collected by its front door when we were on tour. For those who don’t know Bard, the library is a sunny yellow and white thing attached to a classical Greek temple. You go down a kind of ramp at the side of the temple to enter the library. [Campus</a> Map | Libraries](<a href=“http://www.bard.edu/campus/maps/maptour/view.php?id=30]Campus”>http://www.bard.edu/campus/maps/maptour/view.php?id=30)</p>

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<p>Columbia and Vassar.</p>

<p>@mathmom: Williams is tearing down its brutalist library. They are using the facade of an existed early building as a portal into a very contemporary glass cube that I quite like. It’s not “impressive” because it’s mostly hidden from view, but it is in keeping with idea that housing books is no longer the only important function of a library.</p>

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<p>We drove into Carlisle, PA at night five years ago, and the Dickinson library was lit up from the inside and was beautiful. I think D1 fell for Dickinson in that moment. She is kind of a library junkie (LOVES books and reading). She ended up attending and adoring Dickinson, and I think the “library moment” is what did it.</p>

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<p>mathmom, S is a first year and I’m having a little bit of a love affair with the UChi campus so pls pardon my blubbering :slight_smile: . I too love the serendipity of open stacks. Columbia’s Butler Library has massive gorgeous reading rooms and lovely nooks and crannies, but 30 years ago the stacks were dark and dusty and musty and I STILL loved roaming around in there.</p>

<p>Speaking of serendipity, who else mourns the end of row upon of row of card catalogues?</p>

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<p>mythmom, it’s a good point that libraries aren’t necessarily about the books anymore. From what I can tell the way the Williams’ architects used the old facade is a lot like what they did at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: <a href=“http://www.bcj.com/public/projects/project/133.html[/url]”>http://www.bcj.com/public/projects/project/133.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Rhodes College has a gorgeous library! It blends beautifully with the rest of the campus, and looks like it has been there for a century. However, it was built in the last decade, and has all the modern conveniences inside.</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t pick a school based on library architecture, and I haven’t been inside any if the libraries in the article, but from our tours I liked Swarthmore’s interior the best - all stone and wood. Not a fan of the concrete building either - so many campuses seem to have one - besides Chicago and Northwestern, Georgetown did also, I think.</p>

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<p>Dartmouth’s Baker Library. It’s also a dead ringer for Independence Hall in Philadelphia:</p>

<p><a href=“http://0.tqn.com/d/collegeapps/1/0/9/I/-/-/baker-tower-dartmouth.jpg[/url]”>http://0.tqn.com/d/collegeapps/1/0/9/I/-/-/baker-tower-dartmouth.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>My favorites when we visited schools were vassar and lehigh both are on the list.</p>

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<p>Yale. It’s absolutely beautiful.</p>

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<p>Wow, these are so beautiful. Thanks for posting. I haven’t visited very many college libraries, so I can’t really answer your question as to what my first choice would be. But I love the small philosophy library at USC, and Doheny library, too.</p>