Cornell is home to more than a dozen libraries. With so many to choose from, where you decide to study just depends on what you’re looking for. Each study area at Cornell has a personality of its own.
Uris
Uris Library has been dubbed “Club Uris” by students who see the humor in the fact that, on any given Sunday through Thursday night, the Cocktail Lounge is the place to be.
Uris Library is connected to the clock tower. Along with Olin, it has hundreds of thousands of books available, as well as carrels and places to study. Uris Library is open 24 hours a day, Sunday through Thursday. That’s right: Students can make their party rounds and then get right back to Club Uris for after-hours studying. With 24-hour access, who needs to pay rent? Just bring a sleeping bag!
Olin and Kroch
For those looking for more of a lounge than a club, Olin Library may become your library of choice. Although not in use at all hours of the night like its neighbor Uris, Olin still keeps its doors open until 2 a.m. Olin has other draws as well: It is one of Cornell’s main research libraries, complete with its own periodical room. The Amit Bhatia Libe Café on the main level is home to the Iced Skim Sugar-Free Vanilla Latte (dubbed The Long Island by the café’s employees) and the best chocolate brownies in the Finger Lakes.
The decor in Olin is also newer and more comfortable than at Uris. But here’s a tip: Get there early. On a Saturday morning, one may find a line of eager students waiting to get the best spots by the window. Attached to Olin is Kroch Library, which houses the Asia Collections and the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. Any noise above a whisper is frowned upon in Kroch Library.
Mann
One of Cornell’s primary libraries is Mann Library, which serves the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Human Ecology. Mann sits on the far side of the Ag Quad. Its ends-ofthe-earth location, made worse by Ithaca’s cold winter weather, makes studying there too much of a trek for some students, but many others recommend its spacious halls for this very reason. Maybe it’s worth the trip just to get a tasty drink or treat from Manndible Café in the front lobby. However, the café does not take Big Red Bucks.
Engineering
Carpenter Hall houses a 24/7 study space. As you would expect, it has a very large computer lab. (And librarians are available for research help via the virtual library.)
Law
With its beautiful arched ceiling, the Law Library in Myron Taylor Hall has been compared to Hogwarts castle. Beware: All those serious law students like their quiet.
Catherwood
Catherwood Library, the School of Industrial and Labor Relations Library, located in Ives Hall, is a daytime hotspot with new furnishings.
Nestlé
The students in the School of Hotel Administration may spend much of their time in “real world” learning situations, but they need to study, too. The Nestlé Library in Statler Hall’s Marriott Student Learning Center has assembled the largest collection of hospitality academic resources in the world, and it has a more social atmosphere than the usual study spaces.
Fine Arts
The Fine Arts Library can be found on the third floor of Rand Hall, and it’s open until 11 p.m. five days a week. It offers the greatest concentration of resources on some of Cornell’s more creative fields: the practice and history of art, architecture, and city and regional planning. AAP students can borrow tons of equipment for multimedia production and presentation, like cameras, tripods, light kits, backdrops, digital audio recorders, speakers, microphones and more.
Off the Beaten Path
Though some specialized spaces such as the Physical Sciences Library were closed dueto budgetcuts, remaining facilities include libraries for Africana studies, management and math. In Lincoln Hall’s Music Library, one can peruse resources and listen to musicians from the Beatles to Tupac Shakur.