The Classics Library was organized in 1892 by the Greek and Latin Club of Yale University as the Classical Club Library (the name was later changed to Classics Library). The Library has been located in Phelps Hall since 1896.

The collection, with more than 32,000 volumes, in the Classics Library covers many disciplines that include Greek and Latin texts, textual criticism, inscriptions, paleography, papyrology, epigraphy, Greek and Roman literature, philology, numismatics, history (prehistory, Greece and Rome, Byzantine and medieval), Greek and Roman law, classical archaeology and art, Greek and Roman mythology and religion, ancient philosophy and science, ancient music, classical scholarship, Byzantine studies, and the early history and literature of Christianity. The reference collection contains dictionaries, encyclopedias, manuals, and bibliographies for Greek and Latin studies. All material is non-circulating.

The Classics Library constitutes an integral part of the curricular program in the Classics Department and functions in close and vital connection with its teaching and research program.

Computer facilities include CD-ROMs of L'Annee Philologique, named CDB (Database on Classical Bibliography), Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, Bibliotheca Teubneriana Latina, and Bibliotheca Iuris Antiqui. In addition, the library has the complete edition of the subject catalogue of the German Archaeological Institute in Rome (DYABOLA); the Gnomon bibliographic database of books reviewed in the journal Gnomon; the electronic version for the PC of the Bibliographie du Centre de Documentation des Droits Antiques and the Bibliographie Papyrologique. An IBYCUS scholarly computer is available for word-searching in classical, biblical and patristic literature.

One ORBIS computer is available for public use. For the convenience of users, a photocopier is available that operates with copy cards.