Libraries: Which colleges have the best?

College Search & Selection
21

<p>That’s about the most artless looking college library building I have ever seen.</p>

22

<p>The University of Chicago’s primary library will be, by 2010, the largest on-campus library in the world. When you consider that Chicago has 5 other libraries, all of them a pretty good size and with some very fine gothic architecture, well… you get the picture. The amazing thing is that it’s still pretty hard to find a place in any of them to study during finals week.</p>

23

<p>Dartmouth’s libraries look cozy. </p>

<p>Here’s a peek: [Dartmouth</a> College visit during the winter at Ken Luallen Weddings Journal](<a href=“http://www.kensjournal.com/archives/521]Dartmouth”>http://www.kensjournal.com/archives/521)</p>

24

<p>Agreed, Dartmouth’s looks very nice. </p>

<p>While certainly large and impressive, not many would say the Reg at Chicago is cozy.</p>

<p>[Regenstein</a> Library Second Floor](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/2thingsatonce/2406306689/in/set-72157604491733210/]Regenstein”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/2thingsatonce/2406306689/in/set-72157604491733210/)
[Bookstacks[/url</a>]
[url=<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/2thingsatonce/2407138396/in/set-72157604491733210/]Regenstein”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/2thingsatonce/2407138396/in/set-72157604491733210/]Regenstein</a> desks](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/2thingsatonce/2407139070/in/set-72157604491733210/]Bookstacks[/url”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/2thingsatonce/2407139070/in/set-72157604491733210/)</p>

<p>The Harper library is an entirely different style.</p>

<p>[William</a> Rainey Harper Library](<a href=“http://awearnessblog.com/800px-Harper_Library,_interior,_University_of_Chicago.jpg]William”>http://awearnessblog.com/800px-Harper_Library,_interior,_University_of_Chicago.jpg)</p>

25

<p>Speaking of UChicago libraries, how about Harper?</p>

<p>[Here’s</a> the inside.](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/43004363@N00/2576767935/"]Here’s”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/43004363@N00/2576767935/)</p>

<p>[And</a> here’s the outside.](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/reallyboring/3237894530/"]And”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/reallyboring/3237894530/)</p>

<p>Edit: Heh… ninja’d!</p>

26

<p>Eeeeew, Mini. I take back what I said about the U of Toronto library being the ugliest building ever built. Williams should knock down that library and then bury the bricks as far from campus as possible.</p>

<p>That Harper library is pretty nice. Add a couple dozen stained-glass windows and a few crucifixes on the walls and it would be almost as nice as Boston College’s.</p>

<p>Pause.</p>

<p>Just kidding, folks!! I don’t think religion has any place in this discussion. Politics don’t belong, either…so IBClass06, maybe you could stifle those photos of the swastika-shaped “Regenstein desks” : <a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/2thingsatonce/2407138396/in/set-72157604491733210/[/url]”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/2thingsatonce/2407138396/in/set-72157604491733210/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

27

<p>i think a relative of mine designed the BC library.</p>

28

<p>I thought I read that University of Wisconsin- Madison and George Washington University were in tops for great libraries.</p>

29

<p>I love looking at libraries, they are my favorite part of the tour. Vassar’s was gorgeous to be sure, although I am a fan of the way NYU’s is laid out, with all the books on the outwalls and it completely empty in the middle, all the way to the top.</p>

30

<p>Skateboarder, thank your relative for me. I spent about half my time at BC in that library. Ok, a lot of that time was spent sleeping, but still…</p>

31

<p>haha. will do. It was either the BC library or the BU one…think it was BC.</p>

32

<p>Harvard’s Baker Hall is like a palace. Harvard has the most number of book collections in the world. Yale’s library is probably the next best and the second most complete. Overall, UC Berkeley’s should be in the top 5. Haas’ library and the Asian Center, both at UC Berkeley, are beautiful, relaxing and almost complete. As for the aesthetic criterion, the ones in Cambridge and Oxford are the best I’ve gone so far.</p>

33

<p>Yale, Schmale. If it doesn’t give Skateboarder an org**m, I don’t wanna hear about it.</p>

<p>And don’t tell me about size. U of Toronto’s is gigantic and it’s still ugly: "The University of Toronto Libraries is the fourth-largest academic library system in North America, following those of Harvard, Yale and Berkeley, measured by number of volumes held.[73] The collections include more than 10 million bound volumes, 5.4 million microfilms, 70,000 serial titles and 1 million maps, films, graphics and sound recordings.[74] The largest of the libraries, Robarts Library, holds about five million bound volumes in its fourteen-storey complex, forming the main collection for the humanities and social sciences. The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library constitutes one of the largest repositories of publicly accessible rare books and manuscripts. Its extensive collections range from ancient Egyptian papyri to incunabula and libretti;[75] the subjects of focus include British, European and Canadian literature, Aristotle, Darwin, the Spanish Civil War, the history of science and medicine, Canadiana and the history of the book.[76] Most of the remaining holdings are dispersed at departmental and faculty libraries, in addition to about 1.3 million bound volumes that are held by the colleges.[74] The university has collaborated with the Internet Archive since 2005 to digitalize some of its library holdings.[77? "</p>

34

<p>yeah, come on now.</p>

35

<p>no pun intended.</p>

36

<p>The Harper at Chicago is rather nice, though I got the feeling that it was just a lesser imitation of Oxford. If you want to find a book, Widener Library at Harvard is indeed the place to be. Personally, I love the rare books library, though I’ve heard that Yale’s is prettier. But again, if you want to find a book… The Harvard Law Library is also really nice, mainly because they have free coffee of many flavors :)</p>

37

<p>As a Cambridge student it pains me to say this, but…</p>

<p>Bodleian Library, Oxford</p>

<p><a href=“http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photography/Images/POD/b/bodleian-library-517210-sw.jpg[/url]”>Photography;

<p><a href=“http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/owl/images/bodleianseldongallery.jpg[/url]”>http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/owl/images/bodleianseldongallery.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://web2.comlab.ox.ac.uk/oucl/conferences/TPHOLs2005/bodleian-library-large.jpg[/url]”>http://web2.comlab.ox.ac.uk/oucl/conferences/TPHOLs2005/bodleian-library-large.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

38

<p>“Eeeeew, Mini. I take back what I said about the U of Toronto library being the ugliest building ever built. Williams should knock down that library and then bury the bricks as far from campus as possible.”</p>

<p>Actually, the alums have raised $75 million to knock down the building. (But currently not enough, though there are plans.)</p>

<p>I’ve always thought it was designed after a Nazi machine gun bunker overlooking the beaches of Normandy.</p>

39

<p>I’m honored to have inspired a thread and am enjoying the photos! (Although if I had known, I would have worked harder on writing clear prose. That’s a terribly rambling paragraph.) I do love libraries. </p>

<p>Comments: Yale was one of the first schools I visited, and it is Yale’s gorgeous main library that led me to make library-visits an explicit criterion. On my Williams tour, the guide told us that the library would be knocked down the very next year… and then, of course, the economy happened.</p>

40

<p>Emory University has one of the best modern libraries in my opinion. They have a 3 floor media center connected to a 7 floor tower containing book stacks. On the top level, there is a balcony with a breathtaking view of Atlanta.</p>

<p>I also put my vote in for Duke’s and Yale’s library as well.</p>