MIT Libraries

The MIT Libraries are an engine for creating, sharing, and safeguarding knowledge at the Institute and beyond. The Libraries work to improve access to the world’s collective knowledge and support the MIT community in many ways.

The Libraries provide access to tens of millions of items, both physical and digital, and to collections from libraries worldwide. Library specialists help people navigate resources, manage data, and think critically as consumers and creators of information, and play a vital role in supporting data-intensive and computational research across MIT.

Through thought-provoking programs, free workshops, and the MIT Reads shared reading and discussion program, the Libraries foster connections across the MIT community. Welcoming spaces—most of which are open 24/7—invite users to recharge, find inspiration, and create new knowledge.

The Libraries work to ensure that research is openly and equitably available to the broadest possible audience. The Center for Research on Equitable and Open Scholarship investigates how disparate communities can participate in scholarship with minimal bias or barriers and hosts a postdoctoral fellowship program. Since 2009, articles by Institute authors made freely available have been downloaded more than 27 million times and 67% of faculty articles were shared openly last year.

Distinctive Collections preserves and fosters the use of unique and rare items, both tangible and digital, including MIT-produced materials, archival collections, rare books, visual materials, and the Aga Khan Documentation Center collections.