When I was a Ph.D. student, I often visited the Robarts Library on the University of Toronto campus. I have to admit it looks pretty ugly (though Umberto Eco admires it). Remember those British cartoon adventure shows from the 1960s like Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet? Those puppets would be at home in that building.
But it is a great library. To get to the main stacks you have to take the elevators up to the top floors, so you're studying in an "elevated" milieu. (I like that there's a mezzanine connection between the tenth and eleventh floors, and between the twelfth and thirteenth.)
I've also spent a lot of time on the fourth and fifth floors where they have microfilms and stuff. (They also have a big globe there.) One an earthquake tremor happened in Toronto and I felt it slightly on the fifth floor.
I haven't been there in recent years. But it has the biggest book collection I've ever encountered. If the Toronto public library system doesn't have a book, chances are Robarts does have it.
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