emmiez Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 Hi, at school we are currently looking at universities and careers...For me, picking the right university must have a large library, because I reckon that's where I want to go a lot to study... (I plan to take history)so I would really like to know which university libraries are the biggest in the world? Thanks! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruan Chun Xian Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 So say University A has a large library but an absolutely crap history department you would go there regardless? Even if you live out your 4 years in the library, I doubt you would exhaust any university's library's resources so it doesn't matter if it has the biggest library in the universe. I'm not saying that it's totally irrelevant but I would worry about other factors, such as how good the university is in the discipline you want to study. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scade Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 I don't know about the world, but at least the libraries of University of Cambridge are well suited for historians.1. The University Library is a copyright library meaning it has every book published in Britain. This already says quite a bit.2. The Seeley Library is a library dedicated to history. It contains 90,000 books, basically all the books needed for the Cambridge history course. The books are gathered according to reading lists assigned by the teachers. In addition it contains all kinds of originial sources eg. medieval manuscripts etc. 3. As far as I'm aware all the colleges have their own libraries, which are very well equipped. The college I applied to (and hopefully get into) has a libary that is open 24/7 for the students and even used to have showers in there.The libraries are well equipped with computers and provide a WLAN. Although I think this is something done by most of the libraries. In addition, University of Cambridge provides a wide electronic access to journals, articles, videos, audio recordings, etc.However, as noted above it is wise to look at other aspects of the universities also. Also it depends on what area of history interests you the most, some universities are better equipped in certain areas than others. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vvi Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 Biggets libraries in the States (also includes public libraries and not just college ones): http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0106201.htmlCan't find a similar list for the UK, but all of the university libraries there are big and most universities have huge libraries anyways because they have so many students. Maybe you should look at the facilities libraries offer, such as printing, free internet usage and their opening hours (some are open 24/7 during exam-time, others aren't), as well as the late fees they charge.But I think the course and modules are more important than the size of a library. 2 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattias Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 You should definitely listen to what the first person said:A big library does not always equate a good library.However, here's what I know of big libraries.-Oxford and Cambridge have excellent ones. I've been to the one in Oxford, and in my opinion it's the best I've ever seen-Yale has a pretty legit one as well-Columbia has a great library, and it's really well designed- beautiful piece of architecture. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruan Chun Xian Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 My uni just refurnished our entire library and it's really pretty and cosy now, but it's got a pretty ****ty Arts department so you wouldn't want to go there anyway Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmiez Posted June 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 Hi!Thanks for the replies...I'm asking this out of personal interest... I already have a good idea of which university I want to go to, and the course I'm planning to take. I thought it would be interesting, anyway, to know Thank you! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
biochem Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 I am reading Newsweek's publication for 2009 College StudentsHere are the biggest libraries and the volumes of books they have:Harvard - 15.39 millYale - 11.39 millUniversity of Illinois (Urbana) - 10.2 millUN of Toronto - 10 millUN of Cali (Berkley) - 9.8 millEnjoy !! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
powa2 Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Yep, Harvard is the university to go if your looking to become a Historian. If your looking to major in Asian studiesor History, the Peking-National Library in Beijing isn't too bad either, it has 23 mill books and is the largest library in Asia. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vvi Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Yep, Harvard is the university to go if your looking to become a Historian. If your looking to major in Asian studiesor History, the Peking-National Library in Beijing isn't too bad either, it has 23 mill books and is the largest library in Asia.And you can't become a historian if you don't attend a library with millions of books? There's no way any one person could ever read 23 million books in their lifetime anyways. People make do on much less and still become successful in their careers. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Tchock Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 As others have said, the university of Cambridge has a brilliant library, plus there are around 140ish libraries other than the main one, from what I've heard. Every college has its own library, so you could study at the one in your college or go out to the main one or one of the others... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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