University of Chicago Library

University of Chicago Library
The interior of the Harper Memorial Library. Today, Harper Memorial functions as a study space and reading room; it no longer provides collection access.
Location	Hyde Park, Chicago, United States
Type	Academic library
Established	1891
Branches	6
Collection
Size	11,560,575
Access and use
Circulation	440,000
Members	33,000
Other information
Director	Torsten Reimer
Website	lib.uchicago.edu
References: Andrew Abbott: The University Library

The University of Chicago Library is the academic library system of the University of Chicago. It is the seventh largest academic library and the fourth largest private library in the United States, with over 14.2 million volumes as of 2025. The library also holds 76,434 linear feet of archives and manuscripts and 319 terabytes of born-digital archives, digitized collections, and research data. The library system consists of six constituent libraries.

The library was founded in 1891 by the inaugural president of the University of Chicago, William Rainey Harper, who set the course for Special Collections as a "working collection".

The library's collections are located in six sites:

• Joseph Regenstein Library (primary library),
• John Crerar Library (for science, technology, and medicine),
• D'Angelo Law Library (for legal studies),
• Joe and Rika Mansueto Library (storage library),
• Eckhart Library (for mathematics and statistics), and
• Social Work Library (for social work).

The library has borrowing privileges with several other archives, museums, and libraries in the Chicago area, including the Art Institute of Chicago Library, the Chicago History Museum, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the Field Museum of Natural History, and the Newberry Library.

See also

• University of Chicago

Further reading

• Archer, Horace Richard. "Some Aspects of the Acquisition Program at the University of Chicago Library, 1892-1928" (PhD dissertation,  The University of Chicago; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1954. T-02599).
• Dorf, A. "The University of Chicago Libraries : A Historical Note" Library Quarterly 4 (April 1934 ):185-197.
• Freisinger, Judith. "A Program for Library Services at Billings Library, The University of Chicago (Illinois)" (PhD dissertation, The University of Chicago; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1977. TM26375).
• Thackery, David Thomas.  "The Far Eastern Library of the University of Chicago, 1936--1978 (Illinois)" (Thesis, The University of Chicago; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1983. TM28713).

External links

• The University of Chicago Library
• The University of Chicago Library Archived December 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine at the Digital Library Federation
• Guide to the University of Chicago Library Office of the Director, Ernest Dewitt Burton and J. C. M. Hanson, Records 1910-1928 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
• Guide to the University of Chicago Library Office of the Director, M. Llewellyn Raney, Ralph A. Beals and Allen T. Hazen, Records 1894-1959 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
• Guide to the University of Chicago Library Office of the Director, Zella Allen Dixson, Records 1892-1910 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center