Uris Library
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

Information and reference tel.: (607) 255-2339
e-mail: okuref@cornell.edu
www: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/

Library Hours

Campus map showing the Uris Library location.

Uris Library opened in 1891 as Cornell’s first library building. Designed by Henry W. Miller, a famous Cornellian whose style of architecture was greatly favored at the time, this library garnered national acclaim for its combination of beauty and utility.

The University Library, as it was then known, was refurbished in 1962 with funds from Harold ‘26 and Percy Uris and was renamed in recognition of their generous contribution. Uris contains the White Library, a library within a library specially designed to hold the private collection of Cornell’s first president, Andrew Dickson White, which currently contains holdings in American and world history and the A.D. White Medallion Collection. In an underground addition is a unique study lounge where the contemporary design of the 1980s meets the Romanesque style of the 1890s.

Uris Library also houses two computer labs, located on the gallery level. One of the labs operates as a shared facility with Cornell Information Technologies(CIT), and serves as an electronic classroom for the many library instruction sessions held throughout the academic year. When it is not being used as a classroom, it serves as a public lab, similar to the other CIT public labs on campus. The hours of service for both computer labs are the same as for the library.

While it provides abundant study space, the library is also heavily used for its core collection of multiple copies of basic titles in the humanities and social sciences. In addition, the library stores the microform collection of current college and university catalogs from educational institutions in the United States and abroad.