Areas Open to the Public
Cotsen Children’s Library Public Gallery and Bookscape is a picturesque environment with whimsical spaces to read, including a two-story bonsai tree. They offer public programming, including story times, special events, and collaboration with teachers and librarians. Cotsen website.
The Ellen and Leonard Milberg Gallery recognizes the many contributions of Leonard L. Milberg, ‘53 and his wife Ellen. The Milberg Gallery provides a state-of-the-art facility where the Library is able to share these seldom-seen treasures with a wider audience.
The Access Office, located to the left, provides visitors to Firestone with access beyond the turnstile and information about privileges.
Services
Circulation Services
The main service desk for checking out items, asking account questions, and getting print course reserves. The circulation desk also lends items like laptop and phone chargers.
Information Desk
Have a question about the library or where to find something? Ask here! We also have staplers (light and heavy duty), paper clips, and other small office items.
Printing and Scanning
Black and white printers and scanners are available right behind the Information Desk. Printing is availably only to university community members with a NetID and password.
Open Computers
There are several open computers located on the first floor. Computers here are available for both university community members and visitors to use. Most of the databases that the Library subscribes to are available through these computers.
Spaces
Group Study Rooms
Small group study rooms can be reserved online up to one week in advance for three hours at a time. Reserve a group study room.
Silent/Quiet Reading Rooms with Open Seating
- Dulles Reading Room
- Scribner Reading Room
- Trustee Reading Room
Discovery Hub
The Discovery Hub features tables that can be reconfigured to allow for collaborative work, white boards, large monitor displays, and standing desks. The Library also frequently hosts events and workshops in this space.
Tiger Tea Room Café
Enjoy a beverage, sandwich, or salad or make a reservation for formal afternoon tea on Tuesdays and Thursdays, complete with a tower of goodies and pot of tea. Tiger Tea Room website.
Emeritus & Institute for Advanced Study Reading Room
Dedicated space for emeritus faculty and permanent faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study.
Collections
Dixon Leisure Reading
Housed in the Thomas-Graham Reading Room, the Dixon collection is composed of new, popular fiction and non-fiction for leisure reading. Titles circulate for 4 weeks and can be renewed. There is a complementary Dixon ebooks collection of ebook and audiobook titles. Funds for this collection are made possible possible from a gift by William Boulton Dixon, 1915, so that Princeton students of all generations would have ready access to works illustrative of contemporary life and thought. View the catalog of books in this collection.
Travel Guides
Also located in the Thomas-Graham Reading Room are travel guides from Lonely Planet and Rough Guides, organized alphabetically according to place or destination.
Faculty-Authored Books
Faculty across every discipline are represented in the faculty-authored books collection, located along the perimeter of the Discovery Hub, adjacent to the elevators. This collection covers books that faculty have authored, co-authored, or edited. Books in this collection circulate for four weeks at a time. View the catalog of books in the faculty collection.
Miriam Y. Holden Collection on the History of Women
The Holden Collection on the History of Women is a remarkable collection of books, periodicals, manuscripts, clippings, photographs, cartoons, letters, and other materials about women and their achievements. The collection is particularly strong in biographies of notable women of the past, as well as materials relating to women's rights. Most of the Holden Collection is housed in a dedicated room in Firestone Library, while the most valuable and fragile items have been placed in Special Collections. View the catalog of books in the Holden collection.
Lenape Collection
The Lenape Collection provides a curated set of books addressing the history of the land that Princeton University sits on, centering Indigenous authors and exploring global and multidisciplinary aspects of Indigenous Studies. View the research guide for Indigenous Studies.
General Print Reference
This collection serves as the main reference collection for Firestone Library. While all subjects are represented, the collection primarily serves humanities and social sciences researchers. General reference sources are also available. This print collection is complemented by thousands of electronic reference tools. View the catalog of books in the general print reference collection.