With space at a premium, the building options on the Arts Quad have been limited for decades. Yet when the time came to construct a dedicated home for Cornell's vast rare and manuscript collections and the extensive Asia collections, administrators wanted it built as close as possible to Uris and Olin libraries. With no space available above ground, the solution was obvious: dig.

Kroch Library descends three stories underground. Skylights bring natural light to the Asia Reading Room and exhibit spaces in the rare and manuscript archives. Other collections in Kroch include materials on Iceland, the French Revolution, and human sexuality.