Students, faculty, staff, and community members streamed into the University of Virginia’s newly renovated main library when its doors opened to the public at 9 a.m. sharp for the first time in nearly four years.
Visitors explored five floors of new and updated space. They browsed books in stacks on the fifth floor; studied in the McGregor Room; and bathed in the light streaming in from skylights, clerestories, and massive arched windows. Check out our Instagram page to see a video of the first patrons entering the building.
Photographer Tom Daly was there to capture opening day; take a look at some of the highlights below.
![Twelve people enter a large room through the front doors. A man in a green coat applauds.](/sites/default/files/inline-images/UVALibrary_OpeningDay_8Jan2024_ByTomDaly-33.jpeg)
![A woman stands in the lobby of the library gazing up in happiness. Beind her, people take pictures and mingle.](/sites/default/files/inline-images/UVALibrary_OpeningDay_8Jan2024_ByTomDaly-37.jpeg)
![A student sits at a long table working in a large room with yellow walls, big windows, a checkered floor, and bookshelves.](/sites/default/files/inline-images/UVALibrary_OpeningDay_8Jan2024_ByTomDaly-223.jpeg)
![Students gather around an apeture railing on the fifth floor of the library, overlooking the fourth floor below. Above them, natural light flows in through clerestory windows.](/sites/default/files/inline-images/UVALibrary_OpeningDay_8Jan2024_ByTomDaly-87.jpeg)
![Three smiling students look at books while standing in the stacks.](/sites/default/files/inline-images/UVALibrary_OpeningDay_8Jan2024_ByTomDaly-95.jpeg)
![A student lounges in a comfortable chair in in an ornate, old-fashioned room with Persian rugs and a fireplace.](/sites/default/files/inline-images/UVALibrary_OpeningDay_8Jan2024_ByTomDaly-115.jpeg)
![A young man stands in a large lobby with a checkered floor letting the sunlight stream through the windows onto his face.light](/sites/default/files/inline-images/UVALibrary_OpeningDay_8Jan2024_ByTomDaly-212.jpeg)
![Sunlight shines through clerestory windows onto numerous shelves of books on the fifth floor.](/sites/default/files/inline-images/UVALibrary_OpeningDay_8Jan2024_ByTomDaly-105.jpeg)