Today: Closed
Highlights
A 24-hour space for student collaboration and study, with studios for media production and support for science and engineering research and education.
- Video recording studio
- Borrow gear and tech
- Consults on science projects
- Collaborative and quiet study
Cabot has a variety of innovative spaces that can be reserved by Harvard faculty, staff and students — from chat booths and group study spaces to media studios. The library also has open spaces filled with various seating options for taking a break or getting your work done.
Booking Space for an Event
The Cabot Science Library has many flexible spaces great for events of all types — including the Discovery Bar, Puzzle Tables, video conference room, instruction room, and open spaces on the main and lower levels.
The entrance and main level of the Cabot Science Library.
If you're interested in booking an event at Cabot, fill out this form and we will get back to you within approximately two business days.
Things to keep in mind
- Library approval is needed for reservation of event spaces.
- Academic events are given priority.
- Food is allowed in most areas of Cabot. Any catering or setup arrangements are the responsibility of the event organizer, in consultation with the Cabot Library staff assistant.
- Events can only be held during normal library open hours. Please review the library hours, particularly during holidays, university breaks, and summer to ensure the library is open when you need it.
- Coordination with the Science Center, where Cabot Science Library is located, will be required for all large events, with special attention for events that may affect the cafe and courtyard.
- Large events may incur a clean up fee.
Accessibility of Cabot Library
- Cabot Science Library is located inside the Science Center, and the main entrance is near the Clover coffee bar. All Science Center entrances are accessible via ramps and automatic doors.
- Cabot has fourteen group study rooms, all of which are ADA-compliant.
- The puzzle tables on the main level are wheelchair-accessible. Electrical outlets are in the floor below the tables. Printers on the main floor are wheelchair-accessible, and there is an accessible ScannX near the stairwell.
- The library’s elevator connects Cabot’s three floors, but a more accessible elevator is located outside of the library near the Science Center guard’s desk. To access the lower level of Cabot, take the Science Center elevator to the basement and enter via the HUIT Support Center.
- Cabot has two ADA-compliant restrooms — one for women and one for men — on the main level. Three all-gender restrooms are located on the second level.
Contact Cabot Library Communications and Administrative Assistant Ron Lacey, cablib@fas.harvard.edu, with questions about accessibility of events, elevators, study spaces, and restrooms.
Using the Library
Collections
History
The Godfrey Lowell Cabot Science Library opened its doors in 1973.
Named for for Godfrey Lowell Cabot (1861–1962), Class of 1882 — an industrial chemist, manufacturer of carbon black, aviation pioneer, and benefactor of the sciences — the library was conceived as a part of Harvard's Science Center, which also opened in 1973.
Under the stewardship of Dr. Alan E. Erickson, who served as librarian from the library's inception until his retirement at the end of 1991, Cabot rapidly became one of the busiest libraries on campus.
As library collections in the physical science and engineering become increasingly electronic, and the needs of student study space have changed over the years, a number of departmental libraries have closed as service points and their collections have been integrated into the Cabot Science Library. That includes the Kummel Library for the Geological Sciences in 2005, the McKay Blue Hill Engineering Library in 2016, the Physics Library in 2017, and the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Library in 2018.
Cabot underwent a significant renovation in 2016-2017, along with the Science Center's Cafe and Courtyard.