College library rankings

JWT86
Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:59:10 +0000

A VERY strong case can be made that UT-Austin has the greatest university library in the United States. Not by overall size (although UT’s collections are solidly in the top 5-10 by this measure), but overall cultural significance. Awhile back, The New York Times ranked it as one of the 5 greatest research libraries in the world and it was the only university library in the US besides Harvard and Yale included in the respected survey “Great Libraries” (Hobson), which profiled the world’s greatest libraries. Since the 60’s, UT’s oil wealth had it on a buying binge that not even Harvard, Yale, Princeton or the British Library could keep up with. There are scores of articles and publications that support this. In fact, Texas has probably been excoriated in the British press more than any other US library for “robbing Britain of its cultural heritage” (a charge that is quite amusing coming from the British!) The Ransom Center is one of the world’s greatest collections of British, French, Italian, and American literary manuscripts, rare books, photographs, and art. And across campus, the Benson collection is one of the world’s largest Central and South American libraries.

Literally too many articles to cite, but a simple Google Search can return articles going back several decades.

One of the more recent ones:



The Ransom Center, under Staley’s leadership, easily outmaneuvers rivals such as Yale, Harvard, and the British Library.



[Letter from Austin: Final Destination: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker](Final Destination | The New Yorker)