Editing Sterling Memorial Library (section)

==Building==
The library is situated on Yale's Cross Campus, the central quadrangle of the university. Surrounding buildings, including [[Berkeley College (Yale University)|Berkeley College]], [[Trumbull College]], and [[Sterling Law Building]] were designed by Rogers and built in the same period and [[Gothic Revival]] style as the library.

===Nave===
[[File:Sterling nave.jpg|thumb|The nave, looking towards the circulation desk]]
The entrance hall of the library is known as the "nave" because it imitates the [[nave|main approach of a cathedral]]. At its western terminus is a [[chancel]] containing an ornate circulation desk and [[altarpiece]] mural painted by [[Eugene Savage]].<ref name="Husted" /> Constructed of [[Indiana limestone]] and [[List of sandstones|Ohio sandstone]] blocks, the nave is a self-supporting stone structure with none of the steel reinforcement used elsewhere in the library.<ref>{{cite news |last=Crosbie |first=Michael J. |title=Stunning Renovation Brings New Radiance To Yale Library |newspaper=Hartford Courant |date=22 April 2015 |url=http://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-crosbie-sterling-restoration-20150422-story.html |access-date=22 April 2015}}</ref>  It is elaborately decorated with stone and wood carving, ironwork, stained glass windows, and ceiling [[boss (architecture)|bosses]].<ref name="Decoration" /> The main hall is flanked by two [[Aisle#Church architecture|aisles]], which originally held [[library catalog|card catalogs]] for the library bookstacks. Though the original catalog drawers remain in the aisles, the cards have been removed and the aisles converted to seating areas and a [[computer lab]]. At its western end it is intersected by a [[transept]], which leads to the library's main reading room on one end and its wing on the other. For many years, [[tobacco smoking|smoking]] was allowed in the nave, which left a layer of soot on its upper levels.<ref name=Branch201305>{{cite web |last=Alden Branch |first=Mark |title=Sterling's Nave to Close for a Year |date=14 May 2013 |website=Yale Alumni Magazine |url=https://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/blog_posts/1458 |access-date=11 August 2014}}</ref>  Beginning in 2013, the nave underwent a $20-million, yearlong renovation to clean its surfaces, restore its architectural details, overhaul building systems, and reconfigure visitor circulation and services.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sterling Memorial Library Nave Restoration |publisher=Yale University Library |url=http://guides.library.yale.edu/content.php?pid=412929&sid=3373658 |access-date=4 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427120654/http://guides.library.yale.edu/content.php?pid=412929&sid=3373658 |archive-date=27 April 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Shelton |first=Jim |title=Yale's Sterling Memorial Library is getting a $20 million makeover |date=6 September 2013 |newspaper=New Haven Register |url=http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20130907/yales-sterling-memorial-library-is-getting-a-20-million-makeover |access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Renewing an architectural 'temple of the mind' — for a new generation |website=Yale News |publisher=Yale University |url=https://news.yale.edu/2013/05/30/renewing-architectural-temple-mind-new-generation |access-date=6 April 2014|date=2013-05-30 }}</ref>

===Tower===
Fifteen levels of library materials, primarily books, are housed in the building's tower, commonly referred to as the "Stacks".<ref name="SML History" /> Originally intended to house 3.5 million volumes, it is a seven-story structure, with eight [[mezzanine]] levels interleaved between the main stories.<ref name="Snead">{{cite journal |last=Snead |first=William S. |title=The Bookstack Tower |journal=The University Library Gazette |volume=5 |issue=4 |date=April 1931 |pages=77–80 |url=http://digital.library.yale.edu/cdm/ref/collection/rebooks/id/85652 |access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref>  Although encased in a Gothic exterior, the tower's structural system is a welded [[steel frame]], which permits a vertical rise that traditional Gothic techniques would not.<ref name="Husted">{{cite journal |last=Husted |first=Ellery S. |title=The Sterling Memorial Library |journal=The University Library Gazette |volume=5 |issue=4 |date=April 1931 |pages=57–65 |url=http://digital.library.yale.edu/cdm/ref/collection/rebooks/id/85652 |access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref> The [[battlements|crenelated]] roof of the tower is elaborately decorated, complete with a castle-like housing for [[air handler|air handling equipment]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Castle in the air |journal=Yale Alumni Magazine |date=May–June 2012 |url=https://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3425 |access-date=6 June 2014}}</ref>

The tower's shelves are estimated to stretch {{convert|80|mi|km}}, contained within {{convert|6.5|mi|km}} of aisles.<ref name="Snead2">{{cite journal |last=Snead |first=William S. |title=The Yale Bookstack |journal=Yale University Library Gazette |volume=3 |date=1928 |pages=21–26}}</ref> In addition to the library collections, the tower houses reading rooms, study carrels, library offices, and special collections, including the [[Yale Babylonian Collection|Babylonian Collection]].<ref name="Snead" /> Access to the Stacks is restricted to affiliates of the university and library patrons.

===Reading rooms===
[[File:Starr Reading Room east.jpg|150px|thumb|right|Starr Reading Room]]
Four reading rooms sit near the nave on the first floor of the library:

* Starr Reading Room, the main reading room of the library, is at the south end of the library, next to [[Trumbull College]]. It is a [[reference work|reference room]] designed in the style of a [[Refectory#Refectories and monastic culture|monastic refectory]].<ref name="Bloomer" /><ref name=Goldberger1985/> Under a [[barrel vault|barrel-vault]]ed ceiling, the room is lined with [[tracery|traceried windows]] and [[oak]] bookshelves decorated with a botanical [[frieze]].<ref name="Husted" /> A 1998 restoration was funded by [[The Starr Foundation]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Langdon |first=Philip |title=Renovating a Classic Campus |date=November 1998 |journal=Yale Alumni Magazine |url=https://archives.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/98_11/renovation.html |access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref>
* The Periodical Reading Room, lined with oak shelves like those of the main reading room, is reached through from a vestibule on the north side of the nave. The room can hold 1,800 periodicals and features windows decorated with signs of the zodiac to symbolize periodicity.<ref name="Husted" />
* Linonia and Brothers Reading Room, a [[Tudor architecture|Tudor-style]] browsing room at the building's northeast corner. It is named for Yale's two 18th-century literary societies, [[Linonia]] and [[Brothers in Unity]], and holds about 20,000 books.<ref name="Husted" /> Intended to be a "[[gentlemen's club]]" for leisure reading, it was not opened to women until the 1960s.<ref name="Schiff" />
* Franke Family Reading Room, a periodical browsing room, is in the library's southeast corner. Originally a room for frequently-used materials known as the Reserve Book Room, its collections were moved to [[Cross Campus Library]] in 1971.<ref>{{cite news |title=Linonia & Brothers To Remain Intact |date=1 April 1971 |newspaper=Yale Daily News |url=http://digital.library.yale.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/yale-ydn/id/194932/rec/25 |access-date=23 April 2014}}</ref>

The tower holds smaller reading rooms for the library's [[area studies]] holdings, including African, East Asian, Latin American, Near East, Slavic and East European, Southeast Asian, and Judaica collections. There are also dedicated reading rooms for several fields of study, including [[American Studies]], [[History]], and [[Philosophy]].

<gallery mode="packed-hover" heights="120px">
File:Linonia_and_Brothers_Reading_Room_north.JPG|Linonia and Brothers Reading Room
File:Sterling_Memorial_Library_Newspaper_Reading_Room.JPG|Periodical Reading Room
File:Slavic_Reading_Room.JPG|Slavic Reading Room
</gallery>

===Wing===
[[File:Sterling Library cloister Highsmith.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Cloister leading from library's nave to its wing]]
Sterling's northern wing, accessed from the nave via a [[cloister|cloister hallway]], contains the library's offices as well as three major rooms: a lecture hall, the Memorabilia Room, and the Rare Book Room. The Memorabilia Room hosts temporary exhibitions of Yale's archival collections and university history, and serves as an antechamber to the 120-seat lecture hall.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lecture Hall and Memorabilia Room |publisher=Yale University |website=Yale University Library |url=https://web.library.yale.edu/place/lecture-hall-and-memorabilia-room |access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref>

The Rare Book Room, designed after English [[Jacobean architecture]], was built to allow library patrons to browse Yale's collection of rare books and manuscripts.<ref name="Husted"/> A vaulted, octagonal chapel behind the room was specially constructed to house a copy of the [[Gutenberg Bible]].<ref name=Bloomer /><ref name="Husted"/> The completion of the Beinecke Library in 1963 provided a more secure, climate-controlled repository for rare books, and the room and chapel now serve as a browsing room for the library's Manuscripts & Archives department.

===Courtyard===
The library originally had two courtyards designed and landscaped by [[Beatrix Farrand]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Farrand |first=Beatrix |author-link=Beatrix Farrand |title=The Collected Writings of Beatrix Ferrand: American Landscape Gardener, 1872–1959 |chapter=Yale University: The Library Courtyard and its Fountain |date=2009 |publisher=University Press of New England |pages=142–144}}</ref> In 1997, the western courtyard was enclosed and renovated to become the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library.<ref name="Martz" /> Sterling's remaining courtyard, named the Selin Courtyard, features motifs from the history of printing.<ref name="Husted" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Ota |first=Chika |title=SML Selin Courtyard |publisher=Yale University Office of the Printer |date=16 May 2013 |url=https://printer.yale.edu/blog/2013/05/16/sml-selin-courtyard |access-date=6 April 2014}}</ref>