Tours

All tours must be scheduled and approved by the staff of the Patron Services Department, who will provide tour information and coordinate arrangements. We offer several options for our building tours, and will work with your group to choose the tour most appropriate to your group’s needs. Accessibility accommodations for guests with mobility impairments will be provided upon request.

Tour requests must be made at least 72 hours in advance of the desired visit. Staff will not provide tours for groups that arrive without making prior arrangements.

See below for our tour offerings.

Rush Rhees Tower Tours

The River Campus Libraries offer scheduled tours of the Rush Rhees tower as part of the annual Scare Fair event in October and during Senior Week each May.  Additional tours may be granted on rare occasions and are usually limited to tours related to student scholarship or coursework; these must have prior approval from the River Campus Libraries Strategic Leadership Team.

Tower tours are not part of general tours of the Rush Rhees Library, and are not granted to organizations, departments, or student groups for team building exercises, as contest prizes, or for other purposes not directly related to student scholarship.

All tower tours are weather-dependent. In the event of wet weather or when thunder or lightning is present, or if there is standing water on the walkway circling the top of the tower, tours will be canceled and unfortunately, a rescheduled tower tour cannot be guaranteed. 

We regret that the tower is not wheelchair accessible.  Persons with physical disabilities, health issues or extreme fear of heights are encouraged not to participate in tower tours. Children under the age of 18 must be accompanied on tower tours by an adult responsible for their supervision.

Other tours

Looking for tours of the entire campus? University of Rochester offers in-person tours as well as virtual tours.