Libraries and Hours Ask a Librarian

Olin & Uris Libraries

Olin: Open until Midnight
Uris: Open until 11pm

New & Noteworthy

Shelved just past the Circulation Desk on Olin’s first floor, this section is home to about 1,000 popular fiction and non-fiction titles published within the last year. The fiction includes an assortment of novels in a variety of genres, short story collections, poetry, plays by established and prize-winning authors, as well as works by emerging authors that have garnered positive critical notice. Popular non-fiction books spanning topics in world and U.S. history, sociology, politics, science, film, sports, and religion are shelved alongside memoirs, biographies and recent works by local authors and Cornell faculty.

New & Noteworthy books have a two-week loan period, but may be renewed. Most titles discussed in The New York Times Book Review are placed on Olin’s New & Noteworthy shelves, as are those that have received wide attention in the general news media.  If desired, New & Noteworthy books may be requested for convenient pickup at another library (use the Requests function of the library catalog and choose Book Delivery Services).

  • To display the current list of titles, connect to the Library Catalog. Select the Call Number  in the drop down menu and enter ” New & Noteworthy” in the text box.
  • You may also use this automatic search: New & Noteworthy books

New Books

Of the more than 50,000 physical volumes added to Olin Library each year, most are scholarly books supporting Cornell’s research and teaching interests in disciplines that span the social sciences and humanities. Located on the first floor of Olin outside of the Amit Bhatia Café along the east wall shelving, the New Books shelves showcase the 200 to 400 titles received each week. Selected by nearly 25 subject librarians, these volumes are written in a wide variety of languages and, like the New & Noteworthy books, include both fiction and non-fiction. They are arranged by Library of Congress classification in call number order and may be checked out for regular-term loan periods. The New Books section is refreshed each week.

To view online lists of recent CU Library acquisitions by subject classification, see CUL New Books.