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The Leonard Lief Library


Named for the founding President of Lehman College, the Leonard Lief Library is a state-of-the-art research facility housed in a modern, four-story building.  The collections, library faculty and staff, and programs support Lehman's undergraduate and graduate curriculum.  Reference librarians provide research support to students, faculty, and visitors, and offer bibliographic instruction.  In addition to the Reference Desk and instructional support, library faculty is available by appointment for individual consultation.

The library website [http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/library/] is a dynamic information portal with links to Alma’s OneSearch library catalog, 300 online databases, numerous electronic journals, plus recommended authoritative Research Guides.  These electronic resources are available to the Lehman community both onsite and off-campus. An open stacks book collection of 682,848 volumes is supplemented by a microfilm collection and growing multimedia holdings.  The Library is a designated Federal depository for government documents, open to community members by appointment.

CUNY students and faculty may borrow books from all CUNY libraries, and Interlibrary Loan services are available to faculty and graduate students.  A continually updated Reserve collection includes textbooks, journal articles, and course materials.

Library collections and services include the following:

  • State-of-the-art laboratory classrooms, equipped with audiovisual technology and computer resources, are used for research training by library faculty.  These open labs provide students with Internet access and academic program software.

  • Access and Technology Center, located on the first floor, provides assistive equipment and software for students with special needs.

  • Graduate Research Room on the second floor contains computer resources reserved for this special constituency.

  • The Education collection, supporting the School of Education, holds journals, K-12 curriculum materials, a special instructional collection of multicultural children’s books, as well as computer access.

  • Special Collections encompasses College records, rare books, digital resources, and Bronx Institute Archives (local oral histories, monographs, atlases, photographs, and documents).

  • Group Study Rooms can be reserved for individual and small student group use.

The Library publishes a newsletter, prides itself on the active scholarship of its faculty, and offers Readings Series, exhibits, and related events to Lehman and the surrounding community.  We regard ourselves part of the Bronx, international library, and global communities.