New York University has a long tradition of fostering innovative research dating back to its founding in the early 1800s when Samuel Morse had a laboratory in the Main Building. NYU is a category I Research University and one of only 60 American institutions admitted to membership of the Association of American Universities. Our faculty and students contribute to the advancement of the sciences, arts, humanities, and the professions in a wide variety of fields—from cutting-edge vision research to the cataloging and preserving of ancient Aramaic and Judaic texts.
The Libraries of New York University hold collections totaling more than 4 million volumes, almost 5 million microforms, 500,000 government documents, 80,000 sound and video recordings and a wide range of electronic resources. The collections grow by more than 140,000 volumes annually. The library is visited by more than 6,500 users per day and circulates almost 1 million books annually.
The striking, 12-story Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, designed by Philip Johnson and Richard Foster, is the flagship of an 8-library, 4.6 million-volume system that provides students and faculty members with access to the world's scholarship and serves as a center for the University community's intellectual life. It offers 3 specialized reference centers, 28 miles of open-stack shelving, and approximately 2,000 seats for student study. Bobst Library's team of professionals includes 27 subject specialists who select materials in fields ranging from classics to performing arts, as well as specialists in undergraduate outreach, instructional services, electronic information, and digital libraries. Bobst Library is also home to significant special collections such as the Fales Collection of English and American Literature, one of the best collections of English and American fiction in the United States. Bobst Library also houses the Tamiment Library, one of the finest collections in the world for scholarly research in labor history, socialism, anarchism, communism, and American radicalism.
The newly renovated Brine Library Commons on Lower Levels 1 and 2 provides 24-hour access to several large open study areas, group and individual study rooms, computers, wireless, and a snack lounge. The Avery Fisher Center for Music and Media, one of the world's largest academic media centers, has over 100 audio and video viewing carrels and five media-enhanced classrooms; students and researchers use more than 65,000 audio and video recordings per year. The Studio for Digital Projects and Research offers a leading-edge resource for faculty and student projects and promotes and supports access to digital resources for teaching, learning, research, and arts events.
The Division of Libraries consists of the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library and the Libraries of the Institute of Fine Arts, the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the Real Estate Institute. Separate libraries support the curricula of the schools of Law, Medicine and Dentistry.
