The
University Library supports Washington and Lee’s central mission of teaching, learning, and research in the liberal arts by providing a wide range of materials in all formats for use in the classroom, in student learning, in faculty research and preparation for teaching, and by offering a highly skilled staff to assist faculty, students, and other users in their knowledge inquiries. In addition to more than 650,000 volumes housed onsite, the Library’s website provides convenient access to resources on the World Wide Web. The Special Collections Department includes rare books and manuscripts and the University archives, with a collection emphasis on the history of the University and Rockbridge County, Generals Lee and Washington, and the Shenandoah Valley. The Washington and Lee University Library is truly without walls and, when it comes to providing information, is increasingly free of time constraints as well. Through the Internet, students and faculty both on and off campus have 24-hour access to the Library’s web site and all of our electronic resources. Our participation in a strong resource-sharing system allows us to obtain needed materials from other libraries all over the nation. The University Library’s two buildings, the James Graham Leyburn Library and the Robert Lee Telford Science Library, are open 24 hours daily when classes are in session, provide wireless Internet access throughout, and serve as the University’s primary venue for study, research, and work with multimedia resources.
