LIBRARIES

The Lehigh library system (http://www.lib.lehigh.edu/) serves as the information hub of the University, as well as an essential element in the educational process, providing access to electronic and traditional resources, including extensive book, journal, microfilm, software, and media collections. In 1992, the Library celebrated the acquisition of its one millionth volume and the 125th anniversary of the Library system. The Library is continuing its transformation from the paper library to an electronic information center.

Using the concept of Liberspace ("the wide open library"), any user may access not only local databases, such as the on-line catalog, but also a wide spectrum of remote databases from every residence hall, faculty office, classroom and laboratory. Included in the array of remote databases are the tables of contents from over 11,000 journals; several hundred international electronic databases; full text services such as Lexis/Nexis; and systematic access to Internet web sites. Visit the libraries’ home page at http://www.lib.lehigh.edu/.

All library services are available electronically through the campus-wide network: these include requesting assistance; obtaining documents as photocopies or through interlibrary loan; electronic reserves available through the ERES system; requesting media services; requesting circulation recalls and reserves, etc. A CD-ROM LAN, with a wide range of subject databases, may be accessed through remote login from other public sites on campus.

With the opening in 1985 of the E.W. Fairchild-Martindale Library and Computing Center, the combined information center merged more than 500,000 volumes in the social sciences with a 200,000 volume collection in the natural and physical sciences, mathematics, and all branches of engineering. The facility also houses government documents and business collections. The historic Linderman Library, part of which was built in 1877, is dedicated to all branches of the humanities. A collection of 400,000 volumes encompasses strengths in British colonial history, and American and English literature. The Bayer Galleria of Rare Books, which opened in 1985, embraces the university libraries’ Special Collections Division, estimated to include about 24,000 volumes.

Library holdings represent a rich resource for the university community. In addition to the collection of over 1,000,000 volumes the libraries receive more than 10,000 periodicals and serials, including a well-developed foreign and domestic newspaper collection. A partial government depository since the 19th century, the libraries hold more than 550,000 federal, Pennsylvania, and United Nations documents, as well as a vast collection of technical reports from governmental agencies.

Nonprint collections of nearly 1,300,000 microfilms and 30,000 audiovisual resources enhance the traditional book and journal collections. The David M. Greene music collection includes several thousand tapes and cassettes of classical music. The libraries also have a wide range of reference sources in all fields on compact disc. These CD-ROM databases offer yet another alternative for the retrieval of current literature.

University library resources are augmented by memberships in the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges; PALINET, Pennsylvania Area Library Network; IDS, Interlibrary Delivery Services of Pennsylvania; OCLC, Online Computer Library Center, as well as the International Association of Technological University Libraries.

The university library staff, numbering 59 full-time and part-time employees, serves the needs of faculty and students by providing programs that stimulate the use of the information system as a vibrant intellectual resource. Helpful personal assistance is available from staff in such areas as navigating networks for remote databases, instruction in bibliographic research, library orientation, current-awareness services, and interlibrary document retrieval.

The advent of the campus wide network and the ease of accessing electronic information has enabled the library to supply all users with electronic as well as traditional services. Users can order material--including photocopies and interlibrary loans-- and submit electronic reference inquiries and obtain media services via the network 24 hours a day. The reference staff has been providing a major instructional effort for end-user searching of both local and remote databases.