When many people think about Clemson Libraries, they think of Cooper Library, the large building in the middle of campus known for being a popular study spot. But there is more to the Libraries than meets the eye. In celebration of National Library Week, here are some things about Clemson Libraries that you might not know:
We have libraries across the campus and the state. In addition to Cooper Library, we have three other libraries on the main campus — the Gunnin Architecture Library in Lee Hall, the Education Media Center in Tillman Hall, and Special Collections and Archives in the Strom Thurmond Institute. Our Library Depot in Pendleton houses our off-site storage, records management, and our digitization lab. We also have a small community branch location at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Patrick Square, and we have libraries at the CU-ICAR campus in Greenville and the Clemson Design Center in Charleston. Historic Properties — which includes Fort Hill, Hanover House, and Hopewell — also falls under the Libraries.
We have expert librarians for every college. Each college has at least one research librarian dedicated to serving its students, faculty and staff. Several colleges have more than one librarian, each specializing in different subject areas. Who is your college’s librarian? Click here to find out.
We have online chat support. Need assistance but don’t have time to come to the library? Chat with a librarian on our website. Our chat support is monitored from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday. You can also ask questions via text message or email. Click here to discover all the ways you can connect with our team.
We subscribe to more than 700 databases. Need to access a database for your research? Chances are, we can help with that. All faculty and staff have access to a variety of databases through the Libraries, and we are always adding new ones, such as Scopus and scite. Click here to see a listing of all of our databases.
We can get books and articles from around the world. We have more than 3 million print and digital items in our collections, but sometimes you still can’t find what you need. We can borrow items from across the state through our membership in PASCAL and across the globe through Interlibrary Loan. Last year, the furthest place we borrowed from was Keio University Library in Tokyo, Japan. The furthest library we loaned to was the AgResearch Library in Hamilton, New Zealand.
We can help with data visualization and data analysis. Our Scholars’ Lab in room 413 of Cooper Library has a team of graduate students ready to assist with a variety of aspects of data visualization, data analysis and digital scholarship. They can offer help with tools such as Excel, Tableau, Power BI, Python and MATLAB. Click here to learn more.
You can access Clemson history from your keyboard through our digital collections. Special Collections and Archives has more than 10,000 images and more than 8,000 other documents and items in its digital collections. You can view everything from historic photos to old football programs and back issues of The Tiger newspaper, as well as every volume of the Taps yearbook. Tiger Prints is our digital repository and publishing platform for scholarly works created by Clemson students, faculty and staff. And Clemson Libraries is also home to the Open Parks Network, a digital collection of more than 1 million historic images and documents from the National Park Service.
You can check out a variety of “things” from Clemson Libraries. We lend more than just books. You can also check out items such as cameras, charging cords, tripods and more from our technology lending collection, which has more than 400 items available at Cooper Library. Other things you can check out at Cooper: boxes of bones and a full human skeleton, two therapy “pets,” and even umbrellas.
Our Reflection Room offers a quiet space for a break. Need a break? Our Reflection Room in room 214 of Cooper Library is open to faculty, staff, and students. It includes cushions and yoga mats, plants, a water feature, a sound machine and other items to make you feel comfortable and at ease. It also includes a small collection of resources related to mindfulness, yoga, and reflection that are available for checkout. Click here to learn more.
Want to learn even more? Check out our previous article on 10 things you might be surprised to find at Clemson Libraries