Library

Cooper Union Stock Photo

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The Cooper Union Library's specialized collections provide support for the academic programs at the institution's three degree-granting schools of Art, Architecture and Engineering, as well as courses in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Located on the ground floor of the landmark Foundation Building, the Library houses over 100,000 volumes of books and periodicals, maintains collections that include visual and historic materials, and provides access to a wide variety of electronic resources, including thousands of e-journals and e-books. The Library offers group instruction in research techniques and has computer facilities for individual research and study.

The Library is a member of a consortium of academic libraries that includes New York University's Bobst Library and the libraries of The New School. Under this agreement, the libraries share a combined catalog, and students and faculty of The Cooper Union have access and borrowing privileges at the consortium libraries. Separate agreements provide access and borrowing privileges at Dibner Library of the Polytechnic Institute of New York University and access to the Chutick Law Library at Cardozo School of Law.

Library Hours When Classes Are in Session

Monday - Thursday8:45 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Friday8:45 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Saturdaynoon - 5 p.m.
Sunday2 p.m. - 8 p.m.


The Cooper Archives
Available by appointment.

The Visual Resources Collection
Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

For further assistance or information, please call (212) 353-4186, or visit the Library website.

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.