The Library

Library Home page

Regular Hours

The  Academic Technology Center (ATC) Computer Lab, located in the lower level of the library, is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When the library is closed, the lab is not staffed and students must enter using their University ID.

The Library Collections
The duPont building contains the University library collections. The principal or “main” collection is found distributed throughout the four floors of the building. In addition there other collections as follows:

• Fooshee Collection (browsing collection of popular books) — Main Floor
• General Reference — Main Floor
• Theology Periodicals, Theology Special Collections, and Theology Reference — Third Floor
• Government Documents — Ground Floor
• Special Collections — Kappa Sigma House, next door to library
• Archives — Third Floor
• Video Collection — Main Floor
• CD and LP Collections - Second Floor

The Library Catalog lists books, periodical titles (not periodical articles), government publications documents and, audio and video materials found in the library. and websites within the entire library. It also includes online resources (e-books, e-journals and websites) with direct links that enable users to connect from any computer, either inside the library or elsewhere.

Circulation Services
The normal circulation period of books for college students is five weeks, and for seminary students, 16 weeks. Videos and DVDs are due by closing time the day following check-out. Books may be renewed two times if there is no one waiting for the book. Renewals may be made by phone or online. Books already on loan to another person may have a “hold” or “recall” placed on them. A “hold” prevents a book from being checked out to someone else once it is returned; a “recall" sends a message to the current user that someone else would like to use the book. A student must have his or her University ID (with the library barcode attached) to check out materials at the circulation desk or at the self-check station near the front door. Reference books and periodicals generally may not be checked out.

Fines are assessed for failure to return or renew items at the end of the loan period. Fines vary for different kinds of materials and are posted at the circulation desk. Unless fines are paid at the time of return, they are forwarded to the business office at the end of each month. Replacement fees are charged for items that are lost or damaged. Taking library materials from the library without their having been properly checked out is considered a theft of University property and is a direct violation of the University’s Honor Code to which all students agree.

Reserve Materials
Reserve books and photocopied materials are those which instructors have requested to be set apart to provide fair access for all students for a specific course and are located at the circulation desk. The loan period varies from one hour to one week and is indicated on the material to be checked out. It is important that reserve materials be returned as soon as possible for others to use; for that reason the fine for reserve materials is considerably greater than for regular books. These materials are checked out using the student’s campus identification card with a library barcode.  All materials on reserve (books, articles, etc.) are listed in the online catalog by author, title, instructor, and course number. Theology reserve materials are kept on the third floor and are for use in the library building only.

Reference Services
Reference staff is available to give assistance to students in making the most effective use of library resources. Reference materials are designed to provide answers to a variety of information and research queries, and the collection includes print and electronic indexes to periodical articles, encyclopedias, handbooks, and bibliographies and much more. Students may make an appointment with a reference librarian for extended help in any of their information needs. Reference service hours are posted at the desk and on the library website. Students may also send their reference questions via e-mail to askref@sewanee.edu or via instant messaging during posted hours.

Government Documents
The library receives, through the Federal Depository Library Program, thousands of U.S. Government publications covering many areas of the curriculum as well as of general interest. The Government Documents Collection is located on the ground floor in compact shelving. The library offers many print and electronic indexes and other resources to aid in the use of the library’s extensive collection of government information.

Periodicals
There are two reading areas for the most current issues of periodicals, the Wright Morrow Periodical Reading Room for the general collection titles and another on the third floor for theological titles.  Students are free to use either of the periodical collections. Issues of periodicals earlier than the most current volume are found in the general periodicals stacks on the second floor or the Theology periodicals stacks on the third floor. In the case of the general collection, they are arranged by call number, and in the theology collection, by title of the periodical. Periodicals generally do not circulate.

In addition to the 2,300 print periodical subscriptions, the library also provides access to over 200 online research databases and more than 37,000 electronic journals.  Electronic indexes and databases are listed by title and subject on the library website at http://library.sewanee.edu/edata/display.php. All of the periodicals that the library has, both print and electronic, can be found in the Journal Finder at http://fr7nn6kp2y.search.serialssolutions.com/, which has both alphabetical and subject listings and provides direct links to online full-text articles or to the library catalog entry for locating print-only titles.

Interlibrary Services
There may be times you will want to obtain an item which duPont Library does not have. Interlibrary Services will assist in obtaining items and articles from other sources. To request an item, please create an account for yourself using ILLiad at http://sewanee.illiad.oclc.org/illiad/logon.html, our automated interlibrary loan system. Once you have created an account, you will be able to place, track and renew requests online.  The time it takes to obtain an item varies greatly. To be on the safe side requests should be submitted as early as possible, since it could take up to two weeks to obtain the material. Many items that are borrowed through interlibrary loan cannot be renewed. Please contact ILS staff at ils@sewanee.edu if you have any questions.

Archives/Special Collections
Archives and Special Collections, though one department, is housed in two locations; the library, and the renovated Kappa Sigma House next door to the library. The department currently makes available over 7,000 linear feet of archival material in all formats and about 10,000 rare or unusual books. The Archives includes University publications and papers, collections from community organizations, papers and manuscripts of alumni and friends, and records of the Episcopal Church in Tennessee. Some highlights include the manuscript of Ely: Too Black, Too White, maps of the early Domain, photos 1870-1970, and the papers of founders Leonidas Polk, James Hervey Otey, and Charles Quintard.

The Permanent Collection of Fine Art of the University of the South serves first and foremost as a teaching collection to assist in the curricular goals of multiple academic disciplines. Strengths of the collection include prints and drawings from the 16th to the 20th century by artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Ferdinand Bol, Goya, Thomas Rowlandson, Fèlicien Rops, Albert Goodwin, Utagawa Kunisada, John James Audubon, Martin Puryear, and Alexander Calder. The University also possesses a substantial body of work by Johannes Oertel (1823-1909) who served as the University’s first artist-in-residence. Other strengths of the collection include early illuminated manuscript leaves from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as well as an extraordinarily rare Nuremberg Bible, ca. 1483, containing 108 hand-colored woodcuts by the Master of the Cologne Bibles. The University is also fortunate to possess a rich collection of English and American silver from the 16th to the 20th century including examples by famed silversmiths Tiffany & Co. and Omar Ramsden among others.