Georgia Colleges & Universities
Top college and university libraries in Georgia
These college and university libraries stand out for their collections, special collections and archives. Public access varies, so each entry says how visitors can use the library.
Main LibraryUniversity of Georgia
UGA's Main Library holds the humanities, social sciences and arts collections, the Media Collection and the Map and Government Information Library. It is also home to the Digital Library of Georgia, the University of Georgia Press and the Georgia Review, and it recently launched an AI and Data Studio. Anyone may visit and use materials on site; during public hours, visitors without a UGA ID register at the security desk with a government-issued photo ID. After 6 p.m. the building is open only to people with a UGA or other college ID, and it closes on home football game days.
Richard B. Russell Jr. Special Collections LibrariesUniversity of Georgia
This building houses three UGA special collections: the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, which includes the University Archives; the Richard B. Russell Jr. Library for Political Research and Studies; and the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection. It is open weekdays, with evening hours until 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the reading room closes daily from noon to 1 p.m. Off-campus visitors can get free parking in the Hull Street Deck by requesting a coupon code.
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book LibraryEmory University
Emory's special collections library occupies the top floors of Woodruff Library and serves the campus, the Atlanta community and visiting researchers; most of its events are free and open to the public. It holds more than 2,200 collections, including the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library, with a first edition of Whitman's Leaves of Grass (1855) and one of twenty-five true first editions of Ginsberg's Howl, the Billops-Hatch Collection on African American history and culture, and the papers of Seamus Heaney. The reading room is open weekdays by appointment.
Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff LibraryClark Atlanta University, Morehouse College and Spelman College
Established in 1982, the AUC Woodruff Library serves Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College and Spelman College. In 2022 it became the second HBCU library to join the Association of Research Libraries. Its Archives Research Center documents African American history and culture, holding the John Henrik Clarke Africana and African American Collection and the Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Collection, and it is custodian of the Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection. Researchers can request archives appointments.
Georgia Tech LibraryGeorgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Tech's library dates to the Carnegie building of 1907 and is open 24 hours a day while classes are in session. It offers more than 3.9 million items, most of them held at a shared Library Service Center with Emory University. Visitors not affiliated with Georgia Tech may use the library for research and education, weekdays 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and weekends 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with community access workstations on the Library Grove Level.
The most beautiful college library in Georgia
Pitts Theology LibraryEmory University (Candler School of Theology)
Candler School of Theology's library moved in 2014 into a new 60,000-square-foot building with the Jeschke-Graham Special Collections Reading Room and a 1,200-square-foot exhibition gallery. Its special collections hold more than 160,000 rare volumes, with strengths in the European Reformation, Methodism, hymnody and historical Bibles.
Last verified: November 2, 2026. Visitor rules, hours and borrowing policies change, so check the library's website before you go.
About colleges and universities in Georgia
Georgia is a state that organizes its higher education opportunities for its students under two main college systems. The University System of Georgia oversees the public universities that are located within the state, and ultimately has jurisdiction over 34 separate universities. The Technical College System of Georgia is responsible for the technical and trade schools within the state, many of them allowing students to pursue two-year degrees and obtain technical training that is necessary for certain careers. There are 27 technical schools in the Technical College System of Georgia.
Students who live in Georgia or wish to attend school there are often pleased to know that there are also 15 private liberal arts colleges that operate within the state as well as 24 private colleges and universities. Some of these private institutions are specialty schools such as art schools, while others are religious institutions. Examples of these schools include Emory University and Emmanuel College.
The University of Georgia is the largest university in the state, boasting an enrollment of more than 34,000 students. It is located in Athens, Georgia, and is known as one of the top universities in the United States. It has the special designation of being a "Public Ivy," meaning that it is an elite college but also a public university. Not only is the University of Georgia, which is known as UGA, the largest college in the state but it is also the oldest. It was founded in 1785. Along with 3 other colleges in the United States, it claims to be the oldest public university in the country. The University of Georgia is a land grant, sea grant and space grant research institution and is known for producing a large amount of research from top professors.
As the largest and oldest university in the state, the University of Georgia has produced a fair amount of notable alumni. Some famous people who graduated from this university include NFL players Boss and Champ Bailey, fashion designer Emilio Pucci, AFLAC CEO Dan Amos, Build-a-Bear Founder Maxine Clark and several Georgia governors.
Given the wide variety of educational institutions available in Georgia, students are able to pursue the type of career they want at an educational institution they feel comfortable at. There are many different choices from small liberal arts colleges, to specialized private institutions to large research universities where they can pursue just about any educational path.