Bobst – a philanthropist who made his money in the pharmaceutical industry,[2] and a confidant of U.S. President Richard Nixon[3] – was a long-time trustee at New York University.

Designed by Philip Johnson and Richard Foster,[4] the 12-story, 425,000 square feet (39,500 m2) structure is the flagship of an eleven-library, 5.9 million-volume system.

Before its construction, the library was the subject of community protests led by Greenwich Village activists Jane Jacobs, Ruth Wittenberg, and Verna Small.

On the north side, on even floors, are large, double-height study rooms featuring floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Washington Square Park.

In separate incidents, students jumped from the open-air crosswalks inside the library and fell to the stereogram-patterned marble floor below.