The University of Virginia was conceived with a library at its heart, placed in the Rotunda at the head of the Academical Village. The Library’s first collection was selected by Thomas Jefferson and arranged according to a classification scheme he adapted from Francis Bacon’s The Advancement of Learning. Today, the Library’s original purpose remains unchanged: to provide access to accumulated knowledge, and in so doing, increase it — in short, to advance learning. In pursuit of that goal, we collect, preserve, organize, and share materials of all kinds.
The Library's staff, services, and resources are here to ensure that the University community has the information it needs for teaching, research, and personal enjoyment and enrichment. We invite you to learn more about the organization that makes up the UVA Library today, and the services we provide.
Current exhibition
Celebrating the life and legacy of Anne Spencer — Harlem Renaissance poet; civil rights activist; librarian and educator; avid reader and prolific writer. On view through June 14, 2025 in Special Collections.
Quick Facts
Recognition Statement
At the University of Virginia Library in Charlottesville, we acknowledge that the land where we learn and work is the ancestral homeland and traditional territory of the Monacan Indian Nation. We pay respect to their elders and knowledge keepers — past and present.
We acknowledge and pay respect to the enslaved Africans, enslaved laborers, and free Black laborers who built UVA, as well as their descendants.
Today we acknowledge the land, we acknowledge labor, traditions, and knowledge, and we acknowledge lives.