<p>Hello. Is there a published poll or ranking of the top university libraries in the U.S.? I would like to know which universities have the best library systems. I assume that the universities with the top library science programs have the best libraries. If there are any published polls of the top university libraries, please post them on this thread. I would like to see published polls of the top library science programs as well. Thank you.</p>
<p>The Princeton Review rankings for best library:
<a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/rankings/rankingDetails.asp?categoryID=1&topicID=12%5B/url%5D">http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/rankings/rankingDetails.asp?categoryID=1&topicID=12</a></p>
<p>US News rankings for Library Science:
<a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/majors/brief/major_25_brief.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/majors/brief/major_25_brief.php</a></p>
<p>Thank you so much for the links. However, could someone please list the top 20 or 30 libraries or library science programs from these polls. I really don't want to pay to view these commercial polls. If someone has this info., I would appreciate that you post it. Thanks again for the links, tkm256.</p>
<p>Princeton Review:
1 Harvard College
2 Princeton University
3 University of Chicago
4 Brigham Young University (UT)
5 Whitman College
6 Stanford University
7 Oberlin College
8 Illinois Wesleyan University
9 Saint Olaf College
10 United States Air Force Academy<br>
11 Cornell University
12 The University of Texas at Austin<br>
13 Mount Holyoke College<br>
14 Auburn University<br>
15 Columbia University - Columbia College<br>
16 Dartmouth College<br>
17 Dickinson College<br>
18 Emory University
19 West Virginia University<br>
20 University of California, Berkeley</p>
<p>US News:
Ball State University
Chadron State College
Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Florida State University
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Miami University--Oxford
Murray State University
Northwestern Oklahoma State University
Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania
Test School
University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign
University of Maine--Augusta
University of Nebraska--Omaha
University of Southern Mississippi
University of Western Ontario</p>
<p>I didn't have to pay to see them. Maybe something's up with my computer. But I'll take it :)</p>
<p>By volumes in libraries</p>
<p>Harvard University 13,617,133
Yale University 9,932,080
University of Illinois - Urbana 9,024,298
University of California - Berkeley 8,628,028
University of Texas 7,495,275
University of California-Los Angeles 7,010,234
University of Michigan 6,973,162
Columbia University 6,905,609
Stanford University 6,865,158
University of Chicago 6,116,978
Cornell University 6,113,346
Indiana University 5,916,992
University of Wisconsin 5,824,639
University of Washington 5,715,202
Princeton University 5,516,141
University of Minnesota 5,490,668
Ohio State University 5,087,336
University of North Carolina 4,819,186
Duke University 4,645,050
University of Pennsylvania 4,546,667
University of Arizona 4,442,861
University of Virginia 4,433,628</p>
<p>tkm256, what is that 2nd list you posted? I went to U.S. News online and was looking for the top graduate library science departments. It won't give you the complete list unless you pay. However, the top schools they do show you starts out with 1. Illinois and N. Carolina 3. Michigan, Syracuse, & Pitt. I don't want to pay to see the rest of that ranking, so I was hoping that someone out here would post the entire poll (or top 20) graduate library science programs according to U.S. News. That Princeton Review is suspect. I don't know how valid any Princeton Review poll is. Hopefully, someone out here has the rest of the U.S. News grad library science poll. If there are any other published polls ranking university library systems, please post them. Thank you for posting those 2 polls, but I'm not sure what that 2nd one is.</p>
<p>Miriam, Illinois, Michigan and UNC are among the very best in Library Science.</p>
<p>To the OP, I doubt that quality of the library science program correlates at all with quality of the library. For example, Columbia University closed its school of library science a number of years ago. If you are intereted in pursuing a career in library science you are best served by searching via Yahoo or Google for schools that have programs in the field and then investigating the schools that are closest to you or that otherwise meet your needs. I am not sure that prestige or national rankings are a major issue unless you are looking for work in a major research institution or as an administrator and even then I woulddoubt it; there is, I seem to have read recently, a nationwide shortage of librarians (and also of funding at public libraries to pay for trained staff).</p>
<p>(It is somewhat ironic for someone who expresses an interest in library science, where being a reference librarian and assisting the public with research is one of the more recognizable parts of the job in some sectors, to be seeking a free and easy way to get basic information on a public forum rather than seeking the information firsthand.)</p>
<p>Pittsburgh has an excellent library science program as well. </p>
<p>That aside, UNC-CH has the most extensive Geological Science Library east of Texas - Austin....</p>
<p>That exhausts my knowledge :P</p>
<p>Mattmom, did Columbia close the School of Library Science, or did the university combine or morph it into a new IT program?</p>
<p>Not sure, but it no longer as the SLS. I had the sense it sort of looked down on the program but I could be wrong.</p>
<p>Top libraries as ranked by the libraries:</p>
<p>Rank Institution Volumes In Library
1 HARVARD 15391906.000
2 YALE 11389504.000
3 ILLINOIS, URBANA 10191895.000
4 TORONTO 10032197.000
5 CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY 9812997.0000
6 COLUMBIA 8650258.0000
7 TEXAS 8482207.0000
8 CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES 7988925.0000
9 MICHIGAN 7958145.0000
10 WISCONSIN 7807097.0000
11 CORNELL 7365268.0000
12 CHICAGO 7124379.0000
13 INDIANA 6770498.0000
14 WASHINGTON 6546072.0000
15 MINNESOTA 6374293.0000
16 PRINCETON 6373184.0000
17 ALBERTA 6011574.0000
18 OHIO STATE 5809505.0000
19 NORTH CAROLINA 5601436.0000
20 PENNSYLVANIA 5473472.0000 </p>
<p>The largest LAC library (by some distance, at 1.4 million volumes) is at Smith. But I can't say that it makes much difference, unless I was planning to read all of them.</p>
<p>Mattmom, I'm just a cheap resident doctor who would like to know which universities have the best libraries. I would think that prospective college applicants might find this info. to be significant as well. Unfortunately, many of these academic polls don't even consider the library systems of the institutions. How ironic. How can any given school claim that it's a top academic institution when it's lacking an outstanding library system?</p>
<p>
[quote]
How can any given school claim that it's a top academic institution when it's lacking an outstanding library system?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This might not be the glaring oversight you'd first think. I think these two go somewhat hand-in-hand, at least among top research institutions. They would not be able to recruit and retain faculty, have a high rate of publishing, and maintain a reputation for research excellence if they don't have excellent library resources. I suppose it's possible that some top-ranked institution has an awful library, but I doubt it. So it's not a crime for rankings to not include that as a factor.</p>
<p>Furthermore, one could really argue with the methodology, too. For example, should number of volumes be the criteria for judgment? Many volumes might reflect breadth as much as depth (the more disciplines you teach, the more titles and collections you'd need to carry). Consider for example two identical universities with similar enrollments. But there is just one difference: One has a medical school, while the other doesn't. The one with the med school is likely going to have a bigger collection than the university without, simply because this field requires a bunch of specialized material. The difference in volumes, in this case, has little to do with quality.</p>
<p>Initial query conflated good library systems with library science programs, which seems an artificial and probably inappropriate linkage. As more and more material is available either through interlibrary loan or digitally, the physical presence of specialized research materials becomes somewaht less relevant, a particularly cogent point for those who are at small institutions and now have access through loan or computer to a vastly larger pool of materials.</p>
<p>
[quote]
How can any given school claim that it's a top academic institution when it's lacking an outstanding library system?
[/quote]
Because they don't lack an outstanding library system. If you think their libraries aren't good, please give reasons why you think so.</p>