An uncommon library
Our state-of-the-art Brody Learning Commons is designed to encourage technology-driven and collaborative learning
As America’s first research university, we take learning seriously, and we have the libraries and study spaces to help fuel discovery—from the stately Hutzler Reading Room to the open and modern Brody Learning Commons.
The Brody Learning Commons opened in 2012 and was built with our students in mind. A focal point of activity (both studious and social), it contains 16 group study rooms, a 75-seat café, a 100-seat quiet reading room, and the thing our students told us they wanted more than anything else—lots of natural light. The 24/7 building is also environmentally friendly and was recognized for its green construction and operations by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The adjacent (and more traditional) Milton S. Eisenhower Library is the main research library for the university. Home to our incredibly helpful librarians (the original search engines), the stacks, and our impressive collection of rare books and manuscripts, the library is one of the most heavily used buildings on campus.
The George Peabody Library, also known as “the cathedral of books,” holds some 300,000 volumes, mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries, and is routinely ranked among the most beautiful libraries in the world. The ornate, cast-iron balconies rise to a latticed skylight above a black-and-white-marble-floored atrium, providing an Instagram-worthy and inspiring place to connect to the past.
With spaces both traditional and modern, and world-class resources—from rare books to the latest electronic databases and millions of print volumes—the university libraries help make discovery possible around the clock, across our campuses, and around the world.
The Sheridan Libraries
The Sheridan Libraries—made up of the Brody Learning Commons, the Milton S. Eisenhower Library and its collections at the Albert D. Hutzler Reading Room in Gilman Hall, the John Work Garrett Library at Evergreen, and the George Peabody Library at Mount Vernon Place—provide the major research library resources for the university. Together they contain more than 3.7 million books and provide round-the-clock access to a rich collection of electronic resources, including more than 171,000 print and e-journals, and more than 900,000 e-books.
Other university libraries:
- Arthur Friedheim Music Library (Peabody Institute)
- William H. Welch Medical Library (East Baltimore campus)
- Institute for the History of Medicine (East Baltimore campus)
- Carol J. Gray Nursing Information Resource Center (School of Nursing)
- Sydney R. and Elsa W. Mason Library (SAIS)
