Harold B. Lee Library
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Library main entrance
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| Country | United States |
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| Type | Academic library |
| Established | 1961 |
| Location | Provo, Utah |
| Coordinates | 40°14′57″N 111°38′57″W / 40.24917°N 111.64917°WCoordinates: 40°14′57″N 111°38′57″W / 40.24917°N 111.64917°W |
| Collection | |
| Size | 9.82M (As of 2011[update]) |
| Access and use | |
| Circulation | 536,000 (As of 2011[update]) |
| Population served | Brigham Young University |
| Other information | |
| Director | Jennifer Paustenbaugh |
| Staff | 352 FTE (As of 2011[update]) |
| Website | lib |
The Harold B. Lee Library (HBLL), located in Provo, Utah, is the main academic library of Brigham Young University (BYU), the largest religious and private university in the United States. The library has approximately 98 miles (158 km) of shelving for the more than 6 million items in its various collections, as well as a seating capacity for 4,600 people. With over 10,000 patrons entering the building each day,The Princeton Review consistently ranks the HBLL in the nation's Top Ten University Libraries–#1 in 2004 and #3 in 2012. Named for Harold B. Lee, former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the library's motto is "...Learning by study and also by faith."
The HBLL began with the books Karl G. Maeser kept in his office during his time as principal of then-Brigham Young Academy. The small library was formed from donations and free materials from the U.S. government. When Maeser's office was destroyed by a fire in 1884, his library collection went with it. In 1892 the new Education Building included a library on the second floor. The academy later became a university, which spurred the library's growth until it filled the third floor and much of the second floor of the Education building. In July 1924, the alumni association reported that $125,000 were set aside to construct a new library building on University Hill. The new Heber J. Grant Library was subsequently dedicated on October 15, 1925 with 40,000 books and 35,000 pamphlets.Alice Louise Reynolds, a popular English professor, helped raise funds to purchase over 1,000 books for the library. She was faculty chairperson of a committee to establish the library from 1906 to 1925. Her fan club donated over 10,000 volumes in the 1930s.
By 1950, the large collection no longer fit in the Grant Library, and campus buildings housed other libraries during the 1950s. The Physical Science Library was housed in the Eyring Science Center from the opening of that building in 1950. In 1957 when the Joseph F. Smith Family Living Center was opened, it contained the life science library on the first floor and the music library on the third floor. The pre-1940 bound periodicals were being stored in the basement of BYU's Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The reserve library was located in the David O. McKay Building, while the attics of the Maeser Building and the women's gymnasium used for storage as well as a warehouse in downtown Provo.
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