best college libraries

Andrew Dickson White Library, Cornell University

The delicate, filigreed spiral staircases and bridges between bookcases make the Andrew Dickson White Library look more like a Hollywood set than a real place students get to study. Cornell University cofounder Andrew Dickson White left the school his collection of 30,000 books on topics ranging from witchcraft to the Reformation, abolitionism, and the Civil War. This fanciful three-story room is where these works were originally held, but many have since been moved to other campus libraries. This building was constructed around the turn of the 19th century by architect William Henry Miller, a Cornell graduate.

(Photo: Courtesy Sarah Fuss)
best college libraries

Thompson Library, Vassar College

Completed in 1905, Thompson Library was designed by Francis R. Allen and Charles Collens. Stone in the library's central hall is carved with Vassar's seal, as well as those of other schools founded as women's colleges, such as Smith, Bryn Mawr, and Wellesley. Seals from what were once men's institutions also appear, including those of Oxford, Yale, and Harvard. This was to remind the women of Vassar that their education was at an equal level with their male counterparts'.

(Photo: Jim Mills/Wikimedia)
best college libraries

Linderman Library, Lehigh University

Aside from its good looks, the really awesome thing about Linderman Library is its snack bar, Lucy's, which it got during a renovation finished in 2007. However, the well-loved building was originally designed by Philadelphia architect Addison Hutton and completed in 1877.

(Photo: Lehigh University)
best college libraries

Bapst Art Library, Boston College

If you want to enjoy the glory of Bapst Library as it usually appears, just take a few moments with this beautiful photo. If you want to see Bapst enhanced by a Harlem Shake flash mob, you'll have to click on the video below. Named after the college's first president, the building functioned as Boston College's primary library from 1925 until 1984, at which time an additional library was built. Bapst holds more than 51,000 books and about 400 quiet-study spaces. 

(Photo: Richietown/Flickr)

best college libraries

Anne & Jerome Fisher Fine Arts Library, University of Pennsylvania

On a visit Frank Lloyd Wright said of UPenn's library, "It is the work of an artist." That artist was architect Frank Furness, who used materials such as red sandstone, brick, and terra-cotta to construct the library, which was dedicated in 1891. Furness' brother, a Shakespearean scholar and a Penn faculty member, chose the quotes found in the windows and inscribed elsewhere in the building.

(Photo: University of Pennsylvania)
best college libraries

George Peabody Library, Johns Hopkins University

It's an M.C. Escher drawing! Just kidding—it's a real live library designed by Edmund Lind in the 1850s. The impressive balconies and alcoves, rising six stories high, are made of cast iron, which was typical of Baltimore architecture of the time. The building contains more than 300,000 books, mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. 

(Photo: Matthew Petroff/Wikimedia)
best college libraries

Suzzallo Library, University of Washington

With more than 2 million volumes, Suzzallo is more than a pretty face. This example of Collegiate Gothic architecture was designed in 1922 by Carl F. Gould Sr. and Charles H. Bebb, two Seattle architects. With its stained glass and buttresses, Suzzallo looks much like a cathedral, inside and out, but instead of saints above the main doors, there are three figures named Mastery, Inspiration, and Thought.

(Photo: Joe Mabel/Wikimedia)
best college libraries

Williston Memorial Library, Mount Holyoke College

The exposed, carved beams of Williston Memorial Library hark back to an even older time than whence they came, which was 1905. The library was built to look like London's Westminster Hall, which was constructed about 800 years before, in 1097.

(Photo: Peter Gray/Flickr)
best college libraries

Riggs Library, Georgetown University

Another cast-iron gem, Riggs opened in 1891 and was designed by architect Paul Pelz, whose portfolio includes the Library of Congress. Although Riggs Library holds 35,000 books, according to Travel + Leisure magazine it's no longer open to students for regular use and instead functions as a space for events and lectures. Get those keys back, kids!

(Photo: Jack E. Boucher, Historic American Buildings Survey)
best college libraries

Cook Law Library, University of Michigan

If you're admiring the carved wooden ceiling work, that's because in 2009 up-lighting was installed to highlight its stunning intricacies. At that time the fancy chandeliers were also cleaned, revealing gold leaf decorations. Everywhere you turn in this place, originally completed in 1931, there's an enchanting detail to study.

(Photo: Courtesy of Jen Kennedy)
best college libraries

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

One of the largest rare books libraries in the world, Beinecke was built using translucent marble panels instead of windows to keep harsh sunlight from damaging its precious contents, which include the Gutenberg Bible and Audubon's Birds of America. The architect was Gordon Bunshaft, and the project was completed in 1963. 

(Photo: Lauren Manning/Wikimedia)
best college libraries

William Rainey Harper Memorial Library, University of Chicago

Made famous for its work on the Art Institute of Chicago, architecture firm Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge was chosen for the heavyweight job of designing Harper Library. Inspired by buildings at Cambridge and Oxford, the library was dedicated in 1912. Today the library holds books as well as classrooms, group study areas, and offices.

(Photo: Rick Seidel/Wikimedia)