Our goal is for the library to serve as the academic heart and hub of the campus: a welcoming and inclusive space for learning, creativity, and scholarship.
Our talented librarians and staff are here to help you succeed at Buffalo State. Call, text, or email us for assistance or swing by our research help desk on the second floor. While you’re here, check out our reservable group study rooms, collection of circulating laptops, or perhaps even a book -- we have over half a million of them in our collections on the second and third floors.
The library's Academic Commons serves as the new front door to student success at Buffalo State by bringing together a variety of support services that strengthen the relationship between students and the librarians, advisors, tutors, and other support staff dedicated to helping them succeed.
Here in Butler, we are dedicated to building a library that is innovative, student-centric, and community-driven. Let me know how we can help make your Buffalo State experience even better.
Charles Lyons
Director, E. H. Butler Library
E. H. Butler Library is the academic hub of the campus. Our mission is to empower students, faculty, and staff to succeed personally and professionally by providing outstanding resources and services that inform and inspire a lifelong passion for learning.
Butler Library will be the hub and heart of the Buffalo State campus. We will be known by the campus for our modern technology, our strong academic connection to the campus and community, our distinctive collections and resources, and our secure, inviting, and inspiring spaces. We will be known as the most innovative academic library in SUNY. All of our staff will take pride in our collective knowledge and expertise, and will value communication and collaboration across all departments.
E. H. Butler Library is named after Edward Hubert Butler Sr., the founder of the Buffalo News. Construction of the original library building began in May 1950. The library was formally dedicated in memory of Mr. Butler two years later on May 16, 1952. It was the first building on campus to be named in honor of a person.
The present building was started in August 1966 and was officially dedicated on April 14, 1970. Since then, the building has gone through modifications to accommodate emerging technologies and to meet changing standards for safety and for accessibility to all patrons.
Butler Library is an ideal place for both the serious researcher and the casual reader. The library serves Buffalo State students and members of the faculty and staff with more than a million research materials, including over 675,000 printed books, over 174,000 electronic books, and access to full-text articles from over 57,000 unique print and electronic journals. In addition, the library houses several special collections and the Buffalo State Archives. The library's Information Commons provides computing support, research assistance, and equipment loan services. The Writing Center, located in the library, provides assistance to students throughout all stages of the writing process.
For more information about the Edward H. Butler Family Papers collection, visit Archives & Special Collections.
Since its first LibQUAL+ survey in 2003, E. H. Butler Library has used these survey results to make numerous changes to service, collections, building space, and virtual space. Here are some brief examples:
Brings together important services, such as assistance with research, computing, and writing, to help students successfully complete academic projects.
Design of homepage more aligned with user expectations, including discoverability; reduction in static pages; dynamically generated and database-driven; RWD (Responsive Web Design) more friendly for multitudes of mobile devices.
Transitioned to discoverability service to match more closely with standard users' search skills ("single search box").
Acknowledged need/appreciation for flexible individual and group study spaces; addition of four group study spaces (users able to reserve independently via homepage); addition of flexible furniture in places formerly holding print collections.
Major shift toward ebooks, including ebrary database and others; helps support distance learning efforts and web-based access to research.
Collaboration with Instructional Resources to redesign library's primary teaching space -- first of its kind on campus!!; its success sparked faculty interest in alternative pedagogies and instructional strategies; also facilitated the redesign of BUTL 316 into a generally scheduled classroom.
Institutional repository for research and scholarly output; substantial increase in usage of digital Masters theses & projects.
Designated space for graduate students overlooking Argo Tea
Subject guides for students within specific academic disciplines.
Web-based citation management system.
Offers signature loose teas and blends from around the world, teaware, and other specialty foods and beverages; transformed the accompanying space, including elements such as an appealing color scheme, stylish, comfortable seating, and tables with electrical outlets and USB charging ports.
Charles Lyons
Director, E. H. Butler Library
Office: Butler 149Jb
E-mail: lyonscf@buffalostate.edu
Phone: 716-878-3026