

Search articles, databases, books, library services, & more.
Lilly Library holdings include about 460,000 books, more than 120,000 pieces of sheet music, and more than 8.5 million manuscripts. Access to these items is provided through IUCAT, Archives Online, and other finding aids, both printed and online.
Main Gallery Fall 2022 Exhibition
Weekly event Free Friday Tours
Exhibition Written on Water: Literature of the Sea
Exhibition The World Awheel: Early Cycling Books
Jane Johnson's 18th Century Nursery Library
Public Services Librarian Isabel Planton displays cards from the Jane Johnson manuscript collection. These cards were made by Johnson around 1735-1745 to be used by her children, and serve as a very early example of what is now known as children's literature. Find these and other fascinating items in the Lilly Library's spring exhibition, "The Eye, the Mind, & the Imagination: Part II."
Arion Press binding of Moby Dick
In this #LillyMinute video, Museum Exhibition Specialist Jenny Mack shows us a beautifully-bound copy of Herman Melville's Moby Dick from the James L. Thielman collection. Bound by Donald Glaister, the outline of the whale is in gold, and the eye and title are in platinum. This and other fine bindings can be viewed in the Lilly Library's spring exhibition.
The Lion & the Mouse
Reference and Reading Room Coordinator Sarah McElroy Mitchell shows us the 2010 Caldecott Medal-winning book The Lion & the Mouse by artist Jerry Pinkney. This picture-book version of Aesop's famous fable shows the beauty of the African serengeti, which Pinkney saw as a place that needed to be preserved. Find this and other well-preserved things of beauty in the Lilly Library's spring exhibition, "The Eye, the Mind, & the Imagination: Part II."
We have millions of resources. Many are not yet digitized.
If you are having trouble finding what you are looking for, contact us.
Need Help?Helpful finding aids like our manuscripts index, card catalog, and special card files are not online. We can help you navigate these resources.
Learn more about finding aids that are not online
We can make PDFs, digital images, and other reproductions of Lilly Library materials to meet your needs. Fees help us pay for this service.
Learn more ordering PDFs and digital images
If you plan to use Lilly Library materials in a book, article, or other publication, we ask that you fill out ourĀ Permission to Publish form. We do not own reproduction rights to most of the material in the collection, so you may also need to secure permission from copyright holders.
Learn more asking for permission to publish