The library’s print and digital collections are augmented through interlibrary loan, giving students and faculty the opportunity to use the combined resources of libraries across the country and around the world.
In addition to the collections held in the library, we also make extensive resources available to students and faculty online. When you’re on campus, the process is completely invisible. If you’re off campus, though — anywhere in the world with an internet connection — you can still access all the library’s electronic resources. You just click a link on the library’s website, log in with your Simon’s Rock username and password, and everything works just as it would on campus. To use the library’s electronic resources, Search Everything or browse our alphabetical and subject lists of online resources.
The Boston Public Library makes available many of its electronic resources to anyone who lives, works, or goes to school in the state of Massachusetts through their eCard program. This includes thousands more electronic periodicals and e-books as well as more streaming video and music.
Questions? Contact us: library@simons-rock.edu or 413-528-7370.
Among the library’s collections are some specialized resources.
The senior thesis is not just an academic requirement for a Simon’s Rock Bachelor of Arts, it is work that adds to the world’s storehouse of knowledge. The library retains a print copy of every thesis submitted by seniors, housed in the Reference Room. All completed theses in the collection are included on our thesis list. Theses do not circulate. Senior thesis proposals beginning in academic year 1998-1999 as well as theses beginning in 2011 are online, but full text of theses and proposals is only available to current students and employees.
The library collects as many alumni publications as possible, as well as books, CDs, and other items by faculty, staff, and other Simon’s Rock-affiliated people. While we can’t hope to be comprehensive, we try to be representative. These items are shelved in closed stacks, but you can find them in the library’s catalog by searching for “Simon’s Rock Authors” and request them at the circulation desk.
A storehouse of all things related to Simon’s Rock from the earliest days to the present, the Archives are located in the library in the closed stacks area. The Archives are open by appointment. If you would like to visit, need help locating materials, have any questions, or have materials you think should be preserved, please contact us at archives@simons-rock.edu.
Inspired by W.E.B. Du Bois, The Du Bois Collection is a selection of books that cover the African American experience from a variety of perspectives, including history, culture, society, religion, art, and more. The items in the collection are part of the Alumni Library’s circulating collection and can be found intershelved with the general collection in the stacks. You’ll notice these books in the collection by the Du Bois spine label.
The Library of Things is a collection of fun and useful non-book items that circulate to students and employees for 24 hours at a time. An evolution of the library’s existing lending model, this collection expands the range of items that the library circulates beyond the boundaries of traditional library materials to meet the diverse needs of our campus community.
Simon’s Rock has a demonstrated commitment to centering the act and art of writing in its pedagogical approach, evidenced most clearly by the Writing & Thinking workshops required of all incoming students. The library has created a collection of materials that go beyond “how-to” style- or guidebooks targeting specific high-school or college level writing forms, such as essays, reports, or term papers. Rather than retreading this already well-trod ground, we seek to collect items by eminent and esteemed writers on the art and craft of writing, broadly defined.The Writers on Writing collection both echoes and supports our commitment to writing-as-thinking, in hopes that students will mine these resources for guidance and inspiration in their curricular and extracurricular writing. This is a browseable collection that can be found in the library commons.
A gift from Bernard Krainis — noted recorder player and a founding member of New York Pro Musica Antiqua and the Aston Magna Foundation for Music, two pioneering ensembles for the performance of early music on period instruments—the Krainis Collection consists of about two hundred scores, all representative of music from the Baroque period and earlier. This collection is located in the Reference Room adjacent to the library’s general collection of music scores and can be found in the library’s catalog by searching for “Krainis Collection.”
This collection of several hundred plays published as single volumes supports the stage actors and directors among our faculty and students. You can browse them in the Reference Room or you can set a Single Play limit on your search in the library catalog.
This small but unique collection is made up of limited edition books by artists in a variety of interesting formats. Included among them are two limited edition books by Simon’s Rock alumni. Many of the books feature original prints and some are examples of printing onto unusual media. There is a record for each artist book in the library catalog, but they are in closed stacks and are non-circulating.
A collection of about 80 pamphlets from the 1920s-1950s related to communism, socialism, and labor in the U.S. There is a record for each pamphlet in the library catalog, but due to the physical nature of the material — they're relatively fragile and some are in poor condition — they're housed in Closed Stacks and are non-circulating.
A gift from Louise Neaderland, the founder and director of the International Society of Copier Artists, the Quarterly presents the copier as an artistic tool, regularly compiling examples of this work as an assemblage of prints and artist books. You can find out more information from the finding aid and artists' names index . The Quarterly is housed in Closed Stacks and is non-circulating.
To find out more or to make an appointment to use the non-circulating collections, contact us: library@simons-rock.edu; 413-528-7370.
A collection of food studies peridocials, currently in print and those out of print.