The tour is introduced by Andrew Dolkart, an architectural historian of New York, Columbia professor, and author of a book on Morningside Heights.

The Low Library vestibule is the grand, high-ceilinged space outside the Visitors Center, decorated with a statue of Athena and other traditional symbols of learning.

Topped by a dome designed to recall the Pantheon in Rome, the Low Library rotunda was originally used as a reading room when the building served as a library.