Baylor named among nation’s best collegiate libraries

Historically, a university’s library has been the heart of the college, and that shows up even looking at a simple campus map. Here at Baylor, Carroll Library (now home to the Texas Collection) housed the university’s academic collection in Burleson Quadrangle, the traditional center of campus, from its construction in 1902 until Moody Memorial Library opened just down Fountain Mall in 1968.

Today, Moody and the adjacent Jesse H. Jones Library make up what is known as Baylor’s Central Libraries. Other libraries on campus include Armstrong Browning Library, the Poage Legislative Library, the Texas Collection, and a growing electronic library (which includes efforts such as the Black Gospel Music Project, digitized version of Baylor Lariat newspapers and Round Up yearbooks dating back to 1896, and more).

Access to such offerings and other special collections have led to Baylor’s libraries being named one of the nation’s best, alongside such prestigious names as Princeton, Yale, Michigan, Johns Hopkins, Duke and Stanford. BestColleges.com compiled a list of the 45 Best College Libraries for 2013-14, and Baylor was the only school in Texas to make the list.

For an excellent overview of what Baylor libraries have to offer, check out this short brochure (PDF).

Sic ’em, Baylor libraries!

You might also like:
* BBC names Armstrong Browning one of America’s 5 most beautiful college libraries (Jan. 2013)
* Baylor’s Texas Collection named among world’s top 20 university special collections (Sept. 2012)
* How Carroll Library attests to the bravery of Baylor students 90 years ago (Feb. 2012)