University of South Carolina Libraries
The library resources of the University of South Carolina are housed primarily in the Thomas Cooper
Library, the Coleman Karesh Law Library of the School of Law, and the School of Medicine Library. The
University of South Carolina holds membership in the Association of Research Libraries.
University Libraries
The components of the University Libraries that are located on the Columbia campus are Thomas
Cooper Library, Hollings Special Collections Library, Business Administration Library, Mathematics Library, Music Library, Moving Image Research Collections, and South
Caroliniana Library.
The Thomas Cooper Library is a seven-story structure near the geographic center of campus. The Library
seats 2,000 people; contains more than 5 million volumes, 5 million microfilms, 1 million manuscripts,
300,000 maps, and 961,000 government documents. The
Library contains a Student Technology Lounge and other computing areas, with over 500 PC and Macintosh computers,
900 locked faculty and graduate student study carrels, and 40 group study rooms.
The staff of the Thomas Cooper Library and its affiliated libraries is composed of 135 full-time employees and supplemented by approximately 100 student assistants. Fifty-seven of the
full-time staff are librarians holding faculty positions with appropriate degrees in library science
from accredited library schools.
University Libraries hold membership in the OCLC and Lyrasis Library Networks, which provide online
automated cataloging services and interlibrary lending. Other automated services include an online
catalog (Innovative Interfaces), online circulation system (Innovative Interfaces), online
acquisitions system (Innovative Interfaces), and online reference service from a
variety of vendors. The online catalog is available from off-campus locations.
University Libraries hold memberships in the Association of Research Libraries, the Association of College and Research Libraries, the Association of South Eastern Research Libraries, the Council on Library and Information Resources, and the Center for Research Libraries.
Coleman Karesh Law Library
The Coleman Karesh Law Library, located in the Law Center, is an academic research library with the primary goal of supporting the work of the faculty and students of the School of Law and the University. The Law Library serves as an instructional unit within the law school, responsible for teaching its students effective legal research techniques. As the largest public law library in the state, the Law Library is also utilized by government agencies, the judiciary, the practicing bar, local academic institutions, and the general public. The four story facility houses a collection of over 600,000 print and electronic volumes, encompassing American law, South Carolina legal history, international, and comparative law. In addition to developing its own collections, the Law Library actively participates in campus, regional, and national programs for collection sharing and development. The Law Library provides seating, including carrels, study rooms, and open table seating, for over 525 researchers.
The Law Library employs 10 professional librarians, 8 of which have both J.D. and M.L.S. degrees, and 11 paraprofessional and student workers.
The librarians, with the exception of the Associate Dean for the Law
Library, are members of the Law Library faculty. The Associate Dean is a member of the
Law School faculty.
School of Medicine Library
The School of Medicine Library serves as the School of Medicine's information gateway to over 10,000 biomedical electronic journals, over 200 electronic textbooks, over 80 biomedical databases, a diagnostic decision support system (DxPLAIN), consumer health information, an online catalog, and PASCAL, South Carolina's state-wide academic electronic library.
The Library's print collection consists of more than 115,000 volumes. The Library provides information resources to meet the needs of the School of Medicine's faculty, staff, and students, as well as the larger University of South Carolina community and consumers. In its role as a Resource Library in the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Southeastern/Atlantic Region, the Library also provides biomedical information services to health care professionals in South Carolina. A complete range of services is available, including reference and instruction, interlibrary loan, and tours and orientations.
The Library staff is composed of 15 full-time employees, nine of whom are professional librarians who hold faculty appointments. The School of Medicine Library is located approximately four miles from the main campus and is adjacent to the Dorn Veterans Administration Hospital on Garners Ferry Road.
Combined holdings for the University Libraries, the Coleman Karesh Law
Library, and the School of Medicine Library:
| Holdings |
FY 10 |
FY 11 |
FY 12 |
FY 13 |
FY 14 |
|
Volumes |
3,963,958 |
4,023,693 |
4,459,841 |
5,248,033 |
5,679,527 |
|
Microforms |
5,430,971 |
5,498,539 |
5,537,847 |
5,537,847 |
5,537,847 |
|
Periodical Titles |
67,016 |
78,061 |
78,061 |
78,061 |
78,061 |
|
US Documents |
957,074 |
961,200 |
961,200 |
961,200 |
961,200 |
|
Maps |
327,266 |
329,268 |
329,268 |
329,268 |
329,268 |
|
Graphic Units |
250,733 |
250,821 |
250,821 |
250,821 |
250,821 |
|
Audio-Visual Units |
62,750 |
63,326 |
66,105 |
66,105 |
66,105 |
|
Cartographic Units |
327,266 |
329,268 |
329,268 |
329,268 |
329,268 |
| E-books |
128,066 |
168,879 |
206,886 |
604,670 |
619,459 |
| |
|
Circulation |
319,163 |
350,228 |
270,928 |
139,810 |
133,342 |
| |
|
Inter-Library Loan |
|
Borrowed |
16,738 |
21,995 |
23,457 |
20,934 |
18,936 |
|
Loaned |
17,680 |
19,543 |
19,829 |
19,872 |
16,549 |
|
Total |
34,418 |
41,538 |
43,286 |
40,806 |
35,485 |
| |
|
Reference Questions |
108,770 |
86,480 |
85,215 |
88,265 |
63,169 |