The Olin and Uris Libraries collection supports research and instruction at Cornell, principally in the humanities and social sciences. Distributed across the two adjacent libraries, holdings of print, media and electronic resources are managed by two-dozen bibliographers and subject specialists who select materials for the Olin and Uris library stacks, for access over computer networks, and for the Annex Library, located just off central campus. The collection reflects the university curriculum, areas of faculty research, and the library’s historical strengths. Among especially rich holdings are those of: the central Andean countries; classics; government; history of science; Icelandic studies; linguistics; literary and cultural studies; philosophy, criticism and theory; and United States history.

Uris Library opened in 1891 as Cornell’s first library building. Designed by Cornell’s first architecture student, William Henry Miller, the building is considered his masterpiece. On campus and around the world, Uris library and its attached bell tower are symbols of Cornell University­'s “secular cathedral” devoted to research and learning. See: olinuris.library.cornell.edu/content/collections