405 Gould Lane
Built in 1956
Renovations in 1983, 2004
Known simply as “the Libe,” this campus building is a favorite spot for many, whether you need to check out a specific book for an essay or just want to take a nap on one of the couches. If it’s your first time at the Libe, make sure to pay attention to the floor numbers! Built into a hill, the Libe numbers its four floors in decreasing order—from Fourth Libe to First Libe—which have progressively quieter volume levels the further down you go. Visit the Writing Center, or Quantitative Resource Center on Fourth Libe when you walk in the entrance, or travel down to First Libe to (very quietly) visit the Carleton Archives and Special Collections.
Fun fact: When the building opened in May 1956, 700 Carleton students and 60 faculty members volunteered to move books into it from Scoville Hall (the previous library building), moving all 160,000 volumes in just over four hours. The Libe is also home to Oscar the Penguin, our favorite unofficial Carleton mascot! Oscar is a taxidermied emperor penguin donated to the Libe by the building’s namesake, longtime Carleton president Laurence McKinley Gould, who was a well-known geologist and polar explorer.
Floor plans
For security purposes, building floorplans are only available to Carleton faculty, staff, and students :
Floor 1, Floor 2, Floor 3, Floor 4, Floor 5
Offices & Departments:
Academic Support Center
Archives
Gould Library