© 2012 Sampson Construction The Don L. Love Library at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln houses one of the largest collections of books in the Great Plains area of the United States, including an impressive selection of books in the sciences, humanities, and other areas, as well as the largest collection of books on film […]
Recently I was in DOK (Delft, the Netherlands, www.dok.info [in Dutch]) for the first time. This was a long overdue visit, because in 2008 this public library was designated by international experts as the worldwide number one library in innovation, and in 2009 it was elected the best library of the Netherlands (this year they […]
I attach the undergraduate entrance to the library of the University of Illinois, the largest University library in the USA, and home to the H. G. Wells papers, one of the world’s largest literary archives. I was at Illinois in 2009, working on my book Maps of Utopia, recently published by OUP. To the right […]
The austere and elegant central cloisters designed by Bramante and the ancient monastery of Sant’Ambrogio, or St Ambrose, home to the Catholic University of Milan since 1932, are framed by modern buildings technologically fully equipped. Together with the more austere and imposing pre-existent structures, they house the great University Library. The University Library is one […]
Trinity College Library is the largest library in Ireland, its collections of manuscripts and printed books having been built up since the end of the sixteenth century. The Library is a fascinating mix from an architectural point of view: the Old Library with the famous Long Room is over 300 years old, and it provides […]
© 2012 Melville House The New York Public Library is an oasis in mid-town, a temple dedicated to intellectual pursuits, with wonderful marble staircases, tromp l’oeil ceilings, and those lions that roar every time a virgin walks past. I’m sitting in the main reading room. Amazingly there is free public access and you don’t even need […]
© 2012 Ph.D. Octopus I was recipient of a research grant from the Lilly Foundation that allowed me to work with an African-American scholar at Howard University. A primary goal of the grant was for me to learn about African-American contributions to my area of study. During my initial visit to Howard University I learned […]
© 2012 ParisRevu The Bibliothèque des Amis d’Instruction (Library of the Friends of Education) was a workers’ self-help library founded in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris in 1861 by a group of artisans led by the lithographer Giraud. It claims to be the first lending library ever established in the city. It still exists and […]
© 2011 Congresso della Società Italiana di BIOGEOGRAFIA Much as I like large libraries and their never ending collections, I also have a passion for (relatively) small places. It started in the corridors of the British Institute of Florence and it became a habit when the London Library gave me a student membership, plus the […]
