The Library

The University of Chicago Library serves the primary research and study interests of faculty, students, and staff. One of the world's foremost research libraries, it is a vital center in the intellectual culture of the University and a rich academic resource for the scholarly community.

The University Library is a unified system consisting of eight libraries that house resources in a variety of formats: approximately 6.5 million cataloged and classified volumes (as of June 2000); 39,000 active serials titles (and a total of approximately 136,000 active and inactive serials titles); 2.7 million microforms units; 26,000 linear feet of manuscript and archival material; 255,000 rare book volumes; 408,000 maps and aerial photographs; 26,000 sound recordings; and a variety of electronic information sources and many other items and collections. For more information about the University of Chicago Library—its collections, services, and electronic resources—please see the Library's web server, at URL, http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/, or call the Library Administrative Office at (773) 702-8740.

The University Library's extensive research collections in the humanities and social sciences are housed in the Joseph Regenstein Library, the Library's largest facility. The Regenstein Library's collections are especially rich in the fields of theology and religion, classics, philology, philosophy, psychology, languages and literatures, anthropology, art, film and theater, music, photography, political science, history, business and economics, linguistics, education, sociology and social statistics, maps and geography, and bibliography. Its holdings are supplemented by two smaller units, the School of Social Service Administration Library and the William Rainey Harper Memorial Library for undergraduates and non-specialist readers throughout the University.

The Regenstein Library is home to four distinguished area studies collections. The Middle East Collection covers the ancient, medieval, and modern civilizations of the Middle East. Its holdings are particularly rich in Assyriology and Egyptology, and Islamic civilization from its rise in the sixth century until the present. The East Asian Collection is devoted to Chinese, Japanese, and Korean materials, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. Manchu, Mongolian, and Tibetan materials are also represented. The South and Southeast Asian Collections have publications on all aspects of life and culture in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan, as well as materials on Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The Slavic and East European Collection encompasses the former Soviet Union and other East European countries.

The University's collections of over 1.1 million volumes in the sciences, technology, biomedicine, and the history of science and medicine are housed in the John Crerar Library and in the Eckhart, Chemistry, and Yerkes Observatory libraries. The Crerar Library includes most of the University's science and biomedical collections. It has approximately one million bound volumes and 4,700 current serials. The Crerar Library's collections in the history of science and medicine are distinguished, and combined with the rest of the University Library's, may be unequaled in the world.

The 55,000-volume Eckhart Library holds the University's collections in mathematics, mathematical statistics, and computer science; the 30,000-volume Chemistry Library, organic, inorganic, physical, analytical, and theoretical chemistry; and the 20,000-volume Yerkes Observatory Library (in Williams Bay, Wisconsin), astronomy and astrophysics.

The D'Angelo Law Library holds a print collection numbering 630,000 volumes complemented by sophisticated access to electronic information. Along with comprehensive collections of Federal and state law, the collections are especially strong in foreign and international law.

The University Library's collections of government documents include legislative and parliamentary proceedings and journals, census and statistical information, and legal materials from all over the world. The Library's collections are particularly strong in nineteenth-century United States Federal documents and publications of major European governments dating back to the mid-nineteenth century.

Most bookstacks are open to users who have valid identification. Graduate-level research is promoted by long loan periods before materials have to be brought back to a library. Interlibrary loan service is available in all libraries. The Library participates in two international bibliographic computer networks that provide access to materials held in libraries and information centers throughout the world.

Reference librarians are available in all the libraries to provide orientation to library collections, services, and facilities. The Reference staff is available for individual and group consultation, and can be contacted by electronic mail, as well as in person and by telephone. Subject bibliographers are available by appointment for specialized reference services. See http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/using/reference for additional information.

The University Library's subject bibliographers are available to discuss resources, facilities, and services in their respective disciplines. Please call (773) 702-8740 to arrange to speak to a subject bibliographer for further information, to request publications about the Library, or to inquire about visiting.

Information Technology

The University provides a wide range of facilities and services to meet the information technology needs of students and faculty at the University.

Students have access to numerous electronic resources, such as full-text and bibliographic databases, from workstations in the libraries and through the campus network.

The Library has over 1700 network connections throughout its facilities. Information about computer facilities in the libraries is available at http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/using/computing.

Networking Services and Information Technologies (NSIT) makes available to students general and advanced instructional and research applications, UNIX server systems, technical workstations, advanced research systems, a Multimedia and Learning Technologies Center, public computing labs, and assistance for users of these services, as well as electronic mail and Internet access. These allow national and international transmission of electronic mail and digital information, including images, and links to specialized resources, such as supercomputers (the University is an Academic Affiliate of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications). The University also operates an advanced high-speed network for advanced research and instructional applications, including scientific visualization applications—Internet2, which interconnects most major research institutions.

In addition to these central services, each division and most of the professional schools provide information technology services, including computer labs, related to specific disciplines. Consequently, there are over sixty computer labs located throughout the main campus.

The University has negotiated with major computer vendors to allow students to purchase workstations, microcomputers and software at reduced prices.

Exchange Programs

The University participates in two exchange programs for doctoral level students wishing to take advantage of special resources not available at Chicago (e.g., courses, library collections, professors, laboratories). The programs are the CIC Traveling Scholar Program with the midwestern "Big Ten" universities plus Penn State, and The Exchange Scholar Program with Berkeley, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Stanford and Yale. Credits earned at the host university are automatically accepted at Chicago. Students may study for up to one academic year at the host institution; approval by both the home and host school graduate deans must be obtained. Students wishing to participate in the exchange programs should discuss plans with their advisor and, if approved, pick up an application at the Office of Graduate Affairs, Admin. 225.

This text was last revised on 7/2/2001.