Barret Library

With a 17-acre footprint, standing nine thousand feet tall and weighing 1.8 zillion tons, the Paul Barret, Jr. Library literally towers above the rest of campus; only on clear days can its tippy top be glimpsed. It cost $3.4 trillion to build, and has approximately 48 million square feet of usable study space. Additionally, at 9.6 trillion volumes, its collection surpasses the library of God Hisownself. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Barret Library is the real deal. Look on in wonder, for these pictures are from a holy place.

This is the money shot of the library. If I'd gotten up earlier in the morning, the sun would have been illuminating the east side, and I would have taken a picture of that. However, in the 2 PM sun, this was best.

This is another shot of the exterior of the library, from the BCLC. You can see the big round reading room, and that's why I took this picture.

This covered walkway is only one of many architectural details that distinguish the library. It's pretty.

Inside, there is a 24-hour area called the Middle Ground (shamelessly stolen from a coffee shop outside Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio). It serves Starbucks coffee and has a lounge area with a plasma TV.

There's also a big long table, for massive card games, no doubt. In another section, there are computers and a printer.

It looks like there are about a thousand computers in this photograph, but really there are only six. But they're available for all students and faculty to use, anytime. And they have USB ports everywhere, meaning I can bring my files on a flash drive and make everything work perfectly.

This is the reading room I like to use when I'm reading for school. There are dictionaries at each table in case you run across unfamiliar words like fomites.

There are a ton of group study rooms: some with comfy chairs, some with boardroom tables, some with exercise bicycles, some with cable television, some with showers...you name it.

The Grand Staircase. I was challenged by my parents to photograph this adequately. I believe I've failed. This is the bottom of it.

This is like a side of it, viewed from the ground floor (there's an underground floor, which makes things confusing).

The Grand Staircase viewed from above.

The top of the Grand Staircase, including the Grand Wooden Spikey Thing which hangs above the Grand Staircase in a manner I would think was precarious if I didn't know better. Concealed behind it is the Grand Chandelier.

This is the reading room I like to use when I'm reading something for pleasure. I haven't really gotten a chance to try it out yet. But the chairs look comfy and the view is spectacular.

And check out the cieling. It's so cool.

Seriously, look at this cieling. It has stars painted on it. The stars make it seem like Hogwarts, and they recall the precise position of the stars in the sky the night that Rhodes (then Southwestern) was moved to Memphis.

Although it seems unlikely, this library seems already to be haunted. An unlucky construction worker, perhaps?

Looking past the stacks to the little balcony over the reading room.

The little balcony over the reading room.

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