The tour begins on the First Floor of the Library, at the front door. Between the front entrance and the second set of doors, on the right is the After Hours entrance to the 24-Hour Study Room. You will need to swipe your I.D. to enter. Through the second set of doors, straight ahead, you will see the security gates. 

To your right is the main entrance to the 24-Hour Study Room. The Daily Grind Café sells food and beverages there during the Spring and Fall semesters. You are free to take small snack items and covered beverages into the rest of the Library, but large meals or messy items should remain in the 24-Hour Room. Near the Daily Grind there are machines where you can add money to your RAM Account or purchase a one-time copy slip. There is also an office supply vending machine here.

Once you enter the lobby, you will see the Circulation Desk immediately to your left. Library materials, including materials requested from other libraries, can be checked out and returned here. The Reserves Desk is also here. This is where you can find materials that have been set aside by faculty to be used in a particular course, or get help accessing the E-Reserves materials. A valid URI ID is required for borrowing Reserves items.

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Across from the 24-Hour Room, you will see a seating area in the main lobby. This is a great place to meet your friends before getting a study room, or gather before a workshop or class in the library!

A computer is nearby for looking up books in the URI Libraries Search.

At the center staircase on your right, you will find the Floor Directory and Map. Each level of the Library has a Directory and Map at the staircase.

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On the other side of the wall housing the lobby seating area and just beyond the Circulation Desk is the MakerspaceURI, an academically focused Makerspace open to the University of Rhode Island community.  They offer shared access to fabrication, 2D/3D design and virtual reality technologies.

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Next door to MakerspaceURI is Rm.166 or the Active Learning Classroom. It is organized around nine pods for up to six students each (maximum 54 students). Each pod has whiteboard space, a flatscreen display, audio jacks, and three laptop computers. To facilitate class presentations and discussions, instructors can share content from any display to all other displays in the classroom.

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If you continue along the same wall that MakerspaceURI and the Active Learning Classroom are located on and just past the restrooms you will find the Government Publications. The URI Library is a partial depository for materials published by the Federal Government and the RI State Government. The Govt Pub collections are behind the Active Learning Classroom and the AI Lab offices. State Publications are located on the lower level.

As you return to the lobby, you will see Room 142, the Teaching-Learning Technology Center. Workshops on Library and online research are often conducted in this room. Faculty may make arrangements with the Reference subject specialists for specific subject-oriented instruction.

The Artificial Intelligence Lab supports two complementary goals. One is to enable students to explore projects on robotics, natural language processing, smart cities, smart homes, the Internet of Things and big data, with tutorials at beginner through advanced levels. The other is to serve as a hub for ideas, a place for faculty, students and the community to explore the social, ethical, economic and even artistic implications of these emerging technologies.

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The far end of the First Floor is home to an area known as the Learning Commons. This is a collaborative study space with group study areas and rooms, as well as a Presentation Practice Room.

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The Info & Research Help Desk is located on the left just across from Reference Online Center. The Desk is staffed most of the hours the Library is open. Librarians are available to answer your questions about the Library and to help you locate materials and information.

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The Reference Stacks begin at the edge of the Reference Online Center and extend into the corner of the building. The Reference Stacks contain encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, older indexes and abstracts and other reference sources. These materials do not circulate. The Curriculum Materials collection is located at the end of the Reference Stacks.