The Graduate Center Library supports the Graduate Center curriculum, and extends as possible to support faculty and graduate research.

The library materials tax levy budget allocated by the Provost is supplemented by Graduate Center student technology fee (STF) funds. Annual STF allocations for materials, projects, equipment, and services are proposed by the student-faculty STF committee and approved by the Graduate Center President. The budget is also supplemented by donations from individuals and corporations, and by New York State library aid. The Graduate Center’s Friends of the Library provide a steady stream of funding for both materials and for staff development.

CUNY libraries share reciprocal borrowing and return privileges, facilitated through an intra-CUNY borrowing system, CLICS. The Graduate Center is active in lending networks that provide quick delivery of books, articles, and specialized works, including the New York State IDS Project the Center for Research Libraries.

The CUNY Office of Library Services (OLS), advised by the CUNY Libraries Electronic Resources Advisory Committee (ERAC), acquires a set of core e-resources shared by all CUNY libraries. Other e-resources are funded by subsets of CUNY libraries to serve their CUNY campuses. Still other e-resources are acquired by the Graduate Center Library to serve Graduate Center constituents only.

The Graduate Center Library partners with the New York Public Library (NYPL) in print and electronic collection development in the humanities and the social sciences. New York State funds the NYPL materials budget on CUNY’s behalf. CUNY Graduate Center students and faculty are NYPL’s core academic constituents with borrowing privileges at NYPL research libraries. Through NYPL’s partnership in the Manhattan Research Library Initiative (MaRLI), Graduate Center students and faculty may apply for borrowing privileges at New York University and Columbia University libraries. Graduate Center librarians consider NYPL holdings, licenses, and purchasing plans when building Graduate Center collections.

Have a suggestion for our collection? We welcome suggestions for books and other materials and you may also always reach out to your subject librarian for conversation about our collections.