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Bobst Library

From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.

The Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, built between 1967 and 1972, is the largest library at New York University and one of the largest academic libraries in the United States. Designed by Philip Johnson and Richard Foster, the 12 story, 425,000 square feet (39,000 m²) structure sits on the southern edge of Washington Square Park and is the flagship of a nine-library, 4.5 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. Bobst Library houses more than 3.3 million volumes, 20 thousand journals, and over 3.5 million microforms; and provides access to thousands of electronic resources both on-site and to the NYU community around the world via the Internet. The Library is visited by more than 6,500 users per day, and circulates almost one million books annually.

While Bobst Library is seen as a trophy building for NYU, one which was able to transform the school from a regional commuter school to a national research university, it is widely disliked by the greater Greenwich Village community. Its imposing red stone exterior, its lack of windows, its enormous atrium, and the shadow it casts on Washington Square Park's southeastern corner gained it little favor from resident Villagers. Many see it as the ugliest building in the neighborhood, in addition to being a large waste of space.

In late 2003, Bobst Library was the site of several suicides. Two students jumped from the open air crosswalks inside the library, crashing to the marble floor below. Both later died from their injuries. After the second suicide, NYU installed glass windows on each level to prevent further jumping. These deaths were the first among a rash of jumping deaths at NYU in 2003 and 2004.

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