The Widener Library is well known to be the largest college library in the country, but few people realize how much larger it is than the libraries of other colleges, Following is a list of the more important college libraries with the number of volumes which they contain: Yale,  1,000,000 Columbia,  550,000 Cornell,  455,129 Pennsylvania,  400,000 Princeton,  353,845 Michigan,  352,718

The University, however, has 1,183,317 volumes and also 705,225 pamphlets, which makes the total 1,888,542.

The distribution of these books in the different departmental libraries is as follows: College Library-- Main Collection,  1,113,678 38 Special Libraries,  78,056 Law School,  183,723 Andover Theological School,  157,724 Zoology Museum,  94,555 Peabody Museum,  12,767 Phillips Library,  49,404 Gray Herbarium,  26,625 Medical School,  73,067 Dental School,  12,228 Arnold Arboretum,  37,463 Bussey Institute,  19,271 Blue Hill Observatory,  22,981

In addition to the large numbers in the collection of first editions and valuable books, especially the Harry Elkins Widener Collection and other groups of rare books which have been bequeathed to the library, the University has an institution such as is nowhere else in the country.