Overview and
Contact Information
The building, completed
in 1930, was designed by James Gamble Rogers (Yale 1889) as a memorial to John
William Sterling (Yale 1864), who donated much of his fortune to Yale. Sterling
Memorial Library, which Rogers remarked was "as near to modern Gothic as we
dared to make it," is made up of fifteen stack levels and eight floors
of reading rooms, offices, and work areas. The collections, devoted primarily
to the humanities and social sciences, are housed mainly in the bookstacks,
which are open to those with a valid Yale picture identification card or a special
visitor's access pass. Sterling's main public services and reading rooms are
on the first and basement floors. Also on the basement level are a lounge and
the entrance to the tunnel that connects Sterling to the Cross
Campus Library, where the intensive-use collection is housed. A major renovation of the bookstacks and several reading rooms was completed in 1998, as was the Irving S. Gilmore
Music Library, whose entrance is on Sterling's first floor (NOTE:
The Music Library hours of operation differ from those of the Sterling Memorial
Library).
For a glimpse of
the Sterling Memorial Library at the time of its completion, peruse the digitized
April 1931 issue of The Yale
University Library Gazette. In addition you can search the text for details
of inscriptions, images, and other symbols in and around the building. A fuller history of
SML is online as well.
You can also take
an online Virtual Tour
of Sterling Memorial Library.
Map/Library
Locations
Travel Directions
CONTACT INFORMATION
SML Circulation: (203) 432-2798 or e-mail smlcirc@yale.edu
Privileges: (203) 432-7189
SML Reference
Services: (203) 432-1775
E-mail
a Reference Question
Research Services and Collections
Dept.
All Subject
Specialists
Complete
Yale University Library Department and Staff Directory
Mailing Address
Sterling Memorial Library
120 High Street, P.O. Box 208240
Yale University
New Haven, CT 06520
© 2007 Yale University Library
This file last modified 11/14/07
Send comments to smlref@yale.edu
