Libraries: Which colleges have the best?

[Phead128]

<p>Harvard’s Widener… is too big… way easy to get lost. I like the main reading rm for Widener. Absolutely amazing…</p>

[mini]

<p>The largest liberal arts college library (by volumes) is Smith’s, and it is a beautiful old building. Their crown jewel, though, is their music library, which is better than that at most of the Ivies.</p>

[Here_to_Help]

<p>The Swem Library at W&M is pretty amazing. I’ve taken many naps in there…
Comfy couches, big windows, 300 year old statues, a recording studio, helpful librarians, nice databases, daily newspapers and magazines, articles to read in the bathroom, an online tool to let friends know where you are in the library, and good food.</p>

<p>Statue of Lord Botetourt in the basement:
[Flat</a> Stanley and Lord Botetourt on Flickr - Photo Sharing!](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/scrc/2514204584/]Flat”>Flat Stanley and Lord Botetourt | W&M Libraries | Flickr)</p>

<p>Interesting art…
<a href=“http://farm4.static.■■■■■■■■■■/3387/3611198192_236913685a.jpg?v=0[/url]”>http://farm4.static.■■■■■■■■■■/3387/3611198192_236913685a.jpg?v=0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Special Collections:
<a href=“http://swem.wm.edu/dev/images/specialcoll.jpg[/url]”>http://swem.wm.edu/dev/images/specialcoll.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Front Entrance:
<a href=“Special Collections Research Center Knowledgebase | Special Collections Knowledgebase”>http://scrc.swem.wm.edu/wiki/images/8/8e/Swem_Library_2005.JPG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>For some reason VT has an article on the expansion with lots of pictures (sorry its in black and white!)
[VALib</a> v51n2 - Redesigning the Earl Gregg Swem Library by Alan Zoellner, Kay Domine, and Susan Riggs](<a href=“http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v51_n2/zoellner.html]VALib”>http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v51_n2/zoellner.html)</p>

[archi92]

<p>harvard harvard and harvard</p>

[Schmaltz]

<p>“The library’s main entrance gained new lettering and an eight-foot circular window of Honduran mahogany.”</p>

<p>Far be it from me to question the design of the Swem library, but wouldn’t it let in more light if the circular window was made from glass?</p>

<p>I knew it was only a matter of time before the Brits threw an Oxbridge library in our faces. Maybe we could have built some nicer libraries over here in the old days if we weren’t FIGHTING (and winning) WARS AGAINST THE BRITISH.</p>

[mini]

<p>[Librophiliac</a> Love Letter: A Compendium of Beautiful Libraries | Curious Expeditions](<a href=“http://curiousexpeditions.org/2007/09/a_librophiliacs_love_letter_1.html]Librophiliac”>http://curiousexpeditions.org/2007/09/a_librophiliacs_love_letter_1.html)</p>

[Cali4nia]

<p>nyu bobst, hands down. 13 floors of magnificence, with everything one could possibly want.</p>

[Here_to_Help]

<p>

Far be it from me to question the design of the Swem library, but wouldn’t it let in more light if the circular window was made from glass?

I think they mean the frame. Otherwise that’s some very translucent wood =P</p>

<p>And that’s an amazing link mini!</p>

[Pizzagirl]

<p>These pictures don’t do it justice, but both NU and U of Chicago libraries, built in Neo-Brutalist style, look a lot alike and were designed by the same man. </p>

<p>[Northwestern</a> University Library - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwestern_University_Library]Northwestern”>Northwestern University Library - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>[Regenstein</a> Library - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenstein_Library]Regenstein”>Regenstein Library - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>And both of them also have an older, beautiful, more traditional-college-with-soaring-rafters library … Deering Library for NU and Harper at Chicago.</p>

<p>I can’t speak for the U of Chicago library, but the NU one has entrances on a ground level and a terrace level. My first quarter at NU, I went to the library, couldn’t find the entrance, and studied in my dorm room til someone took pity on me and showed me the entrance :-)</p>

[Pizzagirl]

<p>Major drool, mini! What a link!</p>

[coollege]

<p>Cool thread.</p>

[Schmaltz]

<p>Mini, please make sure the decision makers at Williams College view all of the libraries on that link you provided above.</p>

[hookem168]

<p><em>is POed that Europe has libraries sweeter than we could ever dream of here in dumpy ol’ America</em> :p</p>

[imsolidmatter]

<p>I love Vassar’s library. I may or may not (hint, I do) have a category for a college’s “Hogwarts Factor”, and let’s just say Vassar’s library is one of the many reasons why it has a high rating in the Hogwarts Factor :P</p>

[Schmaltz]

<p>Wow, imsolidmatter, you really know how to keep a secret. 9 words into your post, I thought we were going to have to waterboard you to get you to tell us the truth. Then, without any prodding, you spilled the beans.</p>

[barrons]

<p>Hogwarts Factor=100% Geek Factor.</p>

[imsolidmatter]

<p>Haha yeah I typically hold down fort pretty well.</p>

<p>& </p>

<p>Although Hogwarts Factor may = 100% Geek Factor, I have no shame… Nor should I; I like what I like I personally don’t find myself very geeky… Maybe a bit dorky, though.</p>

<p>What else could be expected on a topic about college libraries?</p>

[JWT86]

<p>Not even Harvard or Yale can really top UT-Austin in terms of significance of their collections. They have amazing collections for sure, but UT holds its own. UT has the distinction of having the largest US university rare book and manuscript collection at its $1.2 Billion Ransom Humanities Research Center and has been ranked by sources from the New York Times, British Library, Bibliotheque Nationale of France, and the New Yorker as having one of the most significant libraries of British, French, and American literature in the world. At 1 million rare volumes, it is larger than both Harvard’s Houghton and Yale’s Beneicke.</p>

<p>I posted some of these comments about it in another thread:</p>

<p>

The Ransom Center… easily outmaneuvers rivals such as Yale, Harvard, and the British Library.</p>

<p>from The New Yorker: [Letter</a> from Austin: Final Destination : The New Yorker](<a href=“http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/06/11/070611fa_fact_max]Letter”>Final Destination | The New Yorker)

</p>

<p>

“Unquestionably, it’s the second best collection of English literature after the British Library,” Ferdinand Mount, editor of London’s Times Literary Supplement, said during a recent visit to the Ransom Center.
…
The rapid influx of cultural resources, which matched or bettered such collections at Harvard and Yale universities in comparable material, was dubbed “instant ivy” by journalist Nicholas Basbanes in his 1995 book about bibliomania, “A Gentle Madness.” “Before anybody realized what we were doing, we built a library that cannot be matched anywhere,”
…
The accumulation of so many gems, most collected during a 13-year period encompassing the 1960s, was attended by a fair amount of controversy. Critics abroad say the center drained Europe of its cultural heritage and sent it to Texas.
…
In 1970, Anthony Hobson’s book “Great Libraries” shocked the bibliophile world by ranking the center with 32 of the world’s greatest archival institutions. (Harvard and Yale were the only other universities in the US also included.)
…
“There’s a good deal of awe at the speed at which the Ransom has been able to build such extensive collections by the dint of a lot of energy and a good deal of money,” said Jean Ashton, director of the rare books and manuscript library at Columbia University. “We admire it and are more than a little bit jealous.”</p>

<p>from: Welcome to Wonderland
[*[/url</a>]

</p>

<p>

Increasingly, Princeton curators have found themselves standing glumly on the sidelines. “Because we don’t have a lot of money, dealers don’t even bother to come,” says Primer. </p>

<p>Horowitz confirms that. He did not call Princeton about the Mailer papers. Why bother? He knew that Princeton almost certainly would not match the kind of money he could expect to get from the Ransom Center.
…
The Ransom’s awesome holdings, which for some time have exerted something like a gravitational pull on other contemporary authors, make it more likely that in the future other writers will want to be part of this amazing collection. This makes perfect sense: Who wants to be a library’s lone big writer when you might be in the thick of things?
…
Not only does the Ransom possess treasures like a Gutenberg Bible and the world’s first photograph, it competes in countless other fields, driving up prices for all. “Our strongest area is probably in the British [writers],” says Staley. “We have Julian Barnes, we have Penelope Lively, Penelope Fitzgerald. Tom Stoppard’s papers are here. So are David Hare’s. The Booker nominations came out yesterday, and three of the nominees are already in our archive.” </p>

<p>And it’s not just literary properties that make the Ransom such a juggernaut: In 2003 the center paid $5 million for the Watergate papers of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. There’s no ignoring the Ransom’s influence on the market. That $5 million price tag has upped the ante for political papers. “There are now political figures who are approaching me about paying for their papers,” says Primer. “One called recently — I can’t say who it is — who believes his papers are worth $1 million.” </p>

<p>from: The paper chase:As the cost of acquiring manuscripts soars, Princeton increasingly finds itself on the sidelines
[url=<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/archive_new/PAW05-06/05-1116/features_manuscript.html]PAW”>PAW November 16, 2005: Features]PAW</a> November 16, 2005: Features](<a href=“http://www.statesman.com/specialreports/content/specialreports/ransom/17mainransom.html]*[/url”>http://www.statesman.com/specialreports/content/specialreports/ransom/17mainransom.html)

</p>

<p>

"How important is the Carlton Lake Collection [at UT-Austin’s Ransom Humanities Research Center]? Florence de Lussy, conservateur en chef de manuscrits at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, had a straightforward answer… “Remarkable,” she said… “In certain areas, for example Paul Valery, the most important writer in 20th century France, you must go to Texas if you want to study the man thoroughly… Consequently, the Carlton Lake Collection is essential, and very well known here in France. I wish it were here and not there.”</p>

<ul>
<li>from “A Gentle Madness”, Nicholas Basbanes

</li>
</ul>

<p>

"Ranked among the top three American cultural archives of its kind — after the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library — the Ransom’s $1 billion collection contains 40 million rare books, manuscripts, photographs and works of art. The accumulation of so many gems, most collected during a 13-year period encompassing the 1960s, was attended by a fair amount of controversy. Critics abroad say the center drained Europe of its cultural heritage and sent it to Texas. "</p>

<p>"Scholars know the Ransom Center as one of the world’s pre-eminent research libraries… Though its holdings are appraised at more than $1 billion, much of its true value may lie in its ability to inspire the imagination. "</p>

<p>“They’re in the very top tier in the United States, which means they’re top-tier internationally as well,” said Barbara Shailor, director of the Beneicke Library at Yale. “They don’t specialize the way the Morgan Library or the Getty Museum do. They’re strong overall. They excel in so many ways.” </p>

<p>“There’s nowhere like it in the U.S.A., and its only rival for 20th-century material in Britain is the British Library,” said Ferdinand Mount, a former editor of The Times Literary Supplement of London who spoke at the Ransom Center recently. “I’m trying to wake up some zest from the British Library. They have the money but they’re not as proactive. The Texas people are very quick.” </p>

<p>A London newspaper, The Independent, has watched what it calls “the great trans-Atlantic manuscript race” with dismay. It warned in one article that “in a generation’s time, British scholars wishing to research the lives of our leading contemporary writers will be forced to travel to Texas.” In another article it lamented that whenever a desirable archive appears on the market, “American institutions like the University of Texas can just call up an oil-rich benefactor and ask him to put a check in the post.” </p>

<p>from “Lifting the Lid on a Treasure Chest”, STEPHEN KINZER, The New York Times (2/4/2003)

</p>

[Keilexandra]

<p>Austin’s main library, however, is quite boring in both architecture and vibe. I speak from experience, living on the UT campus right this moment.</p>

[JWT86]

<p>

Austin’s main library, however, is quite boring in both architecture and vibe. I speak from experience, living on the UT campus right this moment.

</p>

<p>LOL - The PCL? I agree with that! And even the Ransom Center itself, for all the significance of its holdings, looks more like a bunker than a library. (Plus, while anyone can request to view its holdings, it’s a closed-stack library for obvious reasons.) But there are over a dozen other libraries on campus. The Architecture Library and its reading room, along with the Law School library and the Life Sciences library in the main building are probably the most attractive in the traditional sense. Also, the visible stacks at the LBJ Presidential library have a very impressive visual effect. </p>

<p>Since you seem to be interested in libraries and are on the UT campus right now, you should definitiely make it a point to visit the Ransom Center! Few non-scholars are aware of the worldwide-significance of its holdings. And across Campus from the Ransom Center, next to the LBJ library, is the Benson Latin American Collection which at 1 million volumes, is one of the largest and most signifcant collections of Central and South American holdings in the world.</p>