Leavey Library - Built for the Digital Age

A stop on USC Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.

The brick building in front of you looks as if it could date from the 1930s, but Leavey Library opened on August 29, 1994. Its designers, the Boston firm Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbott, gave it arches and patterned brick so it would sit comfortably beside the older Romanesque halls.

Inside, though, it was planned as something new: a library for the internet era, which was just arriving when the doors opened. Instead of long rows of books, it was built around computer workstations, group study rooms and shared work spaces, a gateway to the digital information age, as USC described it.

The building is named for Thomas and Dorothy Leavey. Thomas Leavey was a founder of Farmers Insurance, and the couple's gift made the library possible. Today it is one of USC's two main undergraduate libraries and the place students know they can find a seat late at night, since it stays open around the clock on most weeknights during the semester. Even from the plaza you can see how it bridges the old campus and the new.

Getting here: Return south across Jefferson Boulevard into campus, then walk east along 34th Street past Trousdale Parkway to the library, about seven minutes in all.

Did you know?: Leavey first went to 24-hour service in 1998, responding to students who wanted more time at its computer stations.

Photo op: From the plaza in front, frame the main entrance arch and its brick tower with the trees that line the walk.

More on Wikipedia: Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Library · Farmers Insurance Group

Leavey Library - Built for the Digital Age

Stops on this tour