Ralph M. Besse Library

The Ralph M. Besse Library seeks to provide intellectual nourishment for students, faculty, staff, and friends of the community.

Image of Front of Besse Library on Ursuline's Campus

Opened in 1985 and named for a trustee and cherished friend of the College, the Ralph M. Besse Library provides a welcoming space to learn, study, research, and collaborate.

An enormously successful businessman, Besse was also strong believer in the value of higher education. His fierce commitment to Ursuline College began in the early 1960s, when he helped raise the necessary funds to make Ursuline’s then-new Pepper Pike campus a reality, and it lasted through his many years on the college’s Board of Trustees, all the way up until his death 2002.

In countless ways, Besse’s essence is stamped into the very fabric of the library, but that is far from the only thing that makes Ursuline’s library unique.