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NYU Welcome: The Libraries

A basic guide to NYU Libraries' resources and services for new NYU students.

Get to Know NYU Libraries

Speedometer icon.Get on the fast track to doing library research! Need to find books and articles for your coursework? This guide has quick videos that get you up to speed on how to find these and other research materials. You can also learn about the study spaces and services the Libraries provide.

 

NYU Libraries has a multitude of resources to support your academic success. When you're new, it can seem overwhelming! Rest assured that our Ask a Librarian service is here to help. No question is too big or small—just ask!

Exterior of Bobst Library.  Red building with many students walking in and out of the front entrance.     Library Buildings and Spaces

Whether you're in New York, Abu Dhabi, Shanghai, or other global academic center, there are a variety of study spaces for individual or collaborative work.

Collections

  • Use our catalog to find print books, ebooks, journals, magazines, newspapers, music scores, theater and film scripts, audio and video (DVDs, CDs, and streaming) and more.
  • Use our 1,400+ databases to search for articles, images, data sets, and much more.
  • Discover rare, unique, and archival materials in our Special Collections.

Tools, Services, and Help

  • Research Guides provide a comprehensive approach to doing research in a subject area, link out to essential sources, and introduce you to the librarian who specializes in the subject. There are more than 400 Research Guides in 66 subject categories.
  • Citation tools help students organize research results and create automatically formatted bibliographies.
  • We have a range of services, including Data Services, Digital Scholarship Services, Ask a Librarian for in-person and virtual research help, and more services.

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Overview of Bobst Library

Bobst, located on Washington Square, is the main library in NYU's 9-library system. This video provides a quick overview of Bobst Library's study spaces, collections, and specialized services.

NYU Libraries Locations in New York

There are seven library locations at NYU New York

Detail of map of Manhattan and Brooklyn depicting locations of NYU libraries in New York.

  1. Bobst (Main, Washington Sq.)
  2. Brause (Real Estate & SPS programs, Midtown)
  3. Dibner (Engineering & Technology, Brooklyn)
  4. IFA (Fine Arts, Uptown)
  5. ISAW (Ancient World, Uptown)
  6. Lapidus (Medicine, Murray Hill)
  7. Law (Washington Sq.)

Library Workshops for NYU Welcome

Get a head start learning to use library resources and tools! Sign up for a library workshop on our calendar page.

Some of the workshops you'll find:

  • NYU Libraries for Beginners
  • Surviving the Stacks: How to Navigate and Use the Physical Collections in Bobst Library
  • Managing Your Research and Bibliographies with Citation Tools (EndNote, RefWorks, Zotero)
  • U.S. Research Libraries for International Students
  • Where in the World Can I Get This Book?: A Guide to Bobst Library Access Services
  • Introduction to Data Services
  • Finding Non-English Language Materials at NYU and Beyond
  • Introduction to NYU Special Collections

NYU Reads

NYU Reads logo.Each academic year, NYU Reads brings the NYU community together around a single common reading, chosen by a University committee made up of faculty, student, and administrator representatives. Building on our undergraduate schools’ first-year reading programs, NYU Reads extends this dialogue beyond Welcome Week and opens it up to the entire University community.

 

 

 

This year's pick is Orbital by Samantha Harvey (2023).  For every one day on earth, the four astronauts and two cosmonauts in Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital circle the earth sixteen times; from their space station, they swiftly circle the globe, looking back at Earth, experiencing “a day of five continents and of autumn and spring, glaciers and deserts, wilderness and warzones.” The “whip-crack of morning arrives every ninety minutes.” These astronauts are here for nine months: by the time they descend, they will have orbited Earth more than four thousand times. What might we understand about ourselves and others when we move at these kinds of speeds, and at this kind of distance? How does our understanding of place—earth, nation, culture—change? What about memory, or love, or time? As Harvey writes, it’s not that we have new thoughts, but “old thoughts born into new moments.” The astronauts and cosmonauts—American, Japanese, British, Italian, Russian—exercise, clean, dream, remember, but most of all, they monitor: their own bodies, molds, plant roots, forty resident mice, cultures of heart cells, cabbages and dwarf wheat, and the Earth, photographed over and over again, from every angle. Meticulously researched and lyrically rendered, Harvey’s novel is a call to step back, take perspective, and achieve deeper understanding. Orbital is a meditation on what it means to progress: observation by observation, reflection by reflection, accelerated day by accelerated day. Her novel helps us see our homes and lives—and our own orbits—anew.

Learn more on the NYU Reads research guide.