University of Alabama Libraries

The University of Alabama provides library facilities and services to its faculty, students, staff, and other scholars and information users through a system of discipline- and research-based libraries. Five libraries comprise the University Libraries system. The Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, serving the humanities, social sciences, arts, and government information, is centrally located on the University quadrangle. Three other libraries are located adjacent to their discipline-related teaching areas: the Angelo Bruno Business Library (Stadium Drive), the McLure Education Library (University Boulevard), and the Eric and Sarah Rodgers Library for Science and Engineering (Hackberry Lane). The William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library (located in the Scientific Collections building on Hackberry Lane) contains rare editions and materials related to Alabama and the deep South, including Confederate imprints, maps, pamphlets, the archives of the University, and Alabama state government publications. Under separate administrative control are the Health Sciences Library, located in the Educational Tower at DCH Regional Medical Center; the Bounds Law Library, located in the Law Center; and the Map Library, located in Farrah Hall.

The campus libraries hold more than two million cataloged items consisting of books and periodicals. Other holdings include microforms, maps, audiovisual materials, and music materials in a variety of formats. The University of Alabama serves as a regional depository for United States government publications and holds an extensive collection of government documents in Gorgas Library.

In addition to offering traditional library services such as interlibrary loan, library instruction, reserves, and reference, the libraries provide access to computerized databases and other electronic resources. The libraries' Web site (www.lib.ua.edu) links researchers to the library catalog, information about campus libraries, catalogs of other libraries, an array of indexes and abstracts, and the World Wide Web.

The University of Alabama has an academic membership in the Association of Research Libraries, which is a select group of institutions emphasizing research and graduate instruction at the doctoral level and supporting large, comprehensive collections of library materials. The University of Alabama also holds membership in the Center for Research Libraries, the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries, the Southeastern Library Network, the Coalition for Networked Information, and the Network of Alabama Academic Libraries.