Editing University of Virginia (section)

===Libraries===
[[File:University of Virginia School of Law, Library.jpg|right|upright=1.2|thumb|Inside the Law Library]]

The first library at the University of Virginia was the Rotunda. Rather than a chapel or other religious structure, the university was built around its own library. Thomas Jefferson was deeply engaged in selecting the materials that made up that library's original collection, and in developing the system by which it would be organized. The Rotunda served as the University Library for over a century, until Shannon Library was opened in 1937.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.library.virginia.edu/renovation/history-of-the-project/|title=History|access-date=December 29, 2019|archive-date=March 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308141453/https://www.library.virginia.edu/renovation/history-of-the-project/|url-status=live}}</ref> Originally named Alderman Library, the Library was renamed to honor [[Edgar F. Shannon Jr.]], the University of Virginia's fourth President, in 2024.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.virginia.edu/content/ahead-grand-opening-board-renames-uvas-main-library |title=Ahead of Grand Opening, Board Renames UVA's Main Library |date=March 2024 |access-date=April 13, 2024 |archive-date=April 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240419113322/http://news.virginia.edu/content/ahead-grand-opening-board-renames-uvas-main-library |url-status=live }}</ref>

The University of Virginia Library System consists of a dozen libraries and holds over 5&nbsp;million volumes. Its Electronic Text Center, established in 1992, has put 70,000 books online as well as 350,000 images that go with them. These e-texts are open to anyone and, {{As of|2002|lc=on}}, were receiving 37,000 daily visits (compared to 6,000 daily visitors to the physical libraries).<ref>{{cite web|title=Electronic Center at UVa Library |publisher=Digital Scholarship Services |url=http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ |access-date=December 20, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061220160141/https://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ |archive-date=December 20, 2006 }}</ref> Shannon Library holds the most extensive Tibetan collection in the world and holds ten floors of book "stacks" of varying ages and historical value. The [[Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library]] features a collection of American literature as well as two copies of the [[Dunlap broadside|original printing]] of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]. It was in this library in 2006 that Robert Stilling, an English graduate student, discovered an unpublished [[Robert Frost]] poem from 1918.<ref name="Frost-Poem">{{cite news | url = http://www.cavalierdaily.com/news/2006/sep/29/grad-student-discovers-unpublished-frost-poem/ | last = Lim | first = Melinda | date = September 29, 2006 | title = Grad student discovers unpublished Frost poem | access-date = December 11, 2006 | work = [[Cavalier Daily]] | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090114115951/http://www.cavalierdaily.com/news/2006/sep/29/grad-student-discovers-unpublished-frost-poem/ | archive-date = January 14, 2009 | df = mdy-all }}</ref> Clark Hall is the library for SEAS (the engineering school), and one of its notable features is the Mural Room, decorated by two three-panel murals by Allyn Cox, depicting the Moral Law and the Civil Law. The murals were finished and set in place in 1934.<ref>"Clark Hall Named to Virginia Landmarks Registry," UVa Today, July 10, 2008</ref> {{As of|2006}}, the university and Google were working on the digitization of selected collections from the library system.<ref name="Google">{{cite web | url = http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=1180 | title = College Dean Search and Diversity Report Main Focus of Senate Meeting | access-date = December 11, 2006 | publisher = University of Virginia | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://archive.today/20121212101748/http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=1180 | archive-date = December 12, 2012 | df = mdy-all }}</ref>

Since 1992, the University of Virginia also hosts the [[Rare Book School]], a non-profit organization in the study of historical books and the history of printing that began at [[Columbia University]] in 1983.