Sterling Memorial Library

Sterling Memorial Library
Facade and tower of Sterling Memorial Library
General information
Type	Library
Architectural style	Collegiate Gothic
Address	120 High Street
Town or city	New Haven, Connecticut
Country	United States
Coordinates	41°18′41″N 72°55′45″W / 41.3113°N 72.9291°W / 41.3113; -72.9291
Completed	1930[1]
Opened	April 1931[1]
Cost	$8 million[1]
Owner	Yale University
Height	150 feet (46 m)
Technical details
Floor count	16
Floor area	441,651 square feet (41,030.7 m2)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	James Gamble Rogers
Website
web.library.yale.edu/building/sterling-library

Sterling Memorial Library (SML) is the main library building of the Yale University Library system in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Opened in 1931, the library was designed by James Gamble Rogers as the centerpiece of Yale's Gothic Revival campus. The library's tower has sixteen levels of bookstacks containing over 4 million volumes. Several special collections—including the university's Manuscripts & Archives—are also housed in the building. It connects via tunnel to the underground Bass Library, which holds an additional 150,000 volumes.

The library is named for John W. Sterling, a lawyer representing Standard Oil, whose huge bequest to Yale required that an "enduring, useful and architecturally beautiful edifice" be built. Sterling Library is elaborately ornamented, featuring extensive sculpture and painting as well as hundreds of panes of stained glass created by G. Owen Bonawit. In addition to the book tower, Rogers' design featured five large reading rooms and two courtyards, one of which is now a music library.

While the library's nave and main reading rooms can be visited on guided tours, its collections are restricted to cardholders.