As the seat of research and learning—and one of the most tangible symbols of higher education—the library is the heart and soul of every great public university. The UConn library system is highly ranked among its regional and national peers; in fact, UConn is among the top 45 university libraries in the country. The University of Connecticut Libraries also forms the largest public research collection in the state. The collection contains some 2.9 million volumes; 99,000 currently received print and electronic periodicals along with 233,000 maps; sound and video recordings; musical scores; and a growing array of electronic resources, including eBooks, eSound recordings, videostreams, and image databases.
The University's main library, the Homer Babbidge Library, is located at the center of the Storrs academic core, and serves both graduate and undergraduate programs. Homer Commons, featured on Level 1, offers two large information retrieval cafes; a 40-workstation computer lab; two electronic instruction classrooms; digitizing and scanning services; a writing center; a quantitative tutoring center; a digital learning center (for computer technology training), language tutoring; as well as reference and research services. The Babbidge Library also houses a Map and Geographic Information Center (MAGIC), a nationally acclaimed resource for geospatial data, which offers the largest public map collection in New England and serves as home to the Connecticut State Data Center (CtSDC). The Libraries also host the Roper Center Public Opinion Archives; comprehensive collections of current and retrospective Federal and Connecticut documents; extensive video and audio collections; and two video theaters.
Other libraries on the Storrs campus include the Music & Dramatic Arts Library in the Fine Arts complex, the Pharmacy Library in the Pharmacy/Biology building, and the Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Each of the University's five regional campuses — Avery Point, Greater Hartford, Stamford, Torrington, and Waterbury — maintains a library dedicated to serving the programs at those sites. These UConn Libraries all share a single catalog and form a single collection; each library unit serves as a full gateway to the entire collection. The Libraries' networked resources, including electronic databases, eJournals, eBooks, and eReference tools, are available to all members of the University community via the Internet.
Facts about the University Libraries
• Construction: Opened in October 1978. Renovation: August 1995 to October 1998
• Square feet: 500,000 on seven floors with a seating capacity of 3,000
• Member of the Association of Research Libraries, the American Library Association, the Boston Library Consortium, the Council on Library and Information Resources; Center for Research Libraries, Northeast Research Libraries Consortium, HathiTrust Digital Library.
This page is maintained by Khara Leon