University of British Columbia Library

The University of British Columbia Library is the library system of the University of British Columbia (UBC). In 2004, UBC Library ranked twenty-second among members of the Association of Research Libraries.

The UBC Library is the second largest research library in Canada,cite web|url=http://www.library.ubc.ca/home/about.html |title=About the Library|publisher=University of British Columbia|accessdate=2006-11-24] with twenty-six branches and divisions at UBC and at other locations, including three branches at teaching hospitals (St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, and Children's and Women's Health Centre of BC), one at UBC's Robson Square campus in downtown Vancouver, and one at the new UBC Okanagan campus. Plans are also underway to establish a library at Great Northern Way Campus on the Finning Lands.

The UBC Library collection comprises 5.5 million books, five million microforms, over 800,000 maps, videos and other multimedia materials and over 65,000 journal and series subscriptions. Additionally, the library holds more than 327,000 electronic resources, including journals, databases, numeric files & CD-ROMs, 1.5 million documents, media and other items. [cite web|url=http://www.library.ubc.ca/pubs/factfig.html|title= Facts & Figures 2006/07|publisher=University of British Columbia|accessdate=2008-02-06]

The UBC Library has the largest collection of Asian language materials in North America and the largest biomedical collection in Western Canada. It is a depository library for publications of the governments of British Columbia (BC), Canada, Japan and the United Nations.

The Library's collections of special and rare materials include the H. Colin Slim Stravinsky Collection (the largest collection of its kind in Canada, including more than 130 items documenting the work and life of Igor Stravinsky) and the Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection, containing more than 25,000 rare and one-of-a-kind items relating to the discovery of BC, the development of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and Chinese immigration to Canada. The collection includes documents, books, maps, posters, paintings, photographs, silver, glass, ceramic ware and other artifacts.

Major branches

Asian Library

The Asian Library, located on the sixth floor of the Asian Centre, houses the largest research collection in Asian languages in North America, its holdings in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Urdu and Indonesian exceeding 500,000 volumes.

Subject material about Asia in English and other European languages, as well as Asian materials in non-Asian languages, are kept in Koerner Library and other branches. Asia-related law materials are located in the Law Library. Monographs in Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Rajasthani, Assamese, Nepali and Tibetan are shelved in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

Special materials include the valuable Puban collection, Swann collection, Song Xuepeng collection, Jing Yi Zhai, Japanese government publications, research materials on Chinese Canadian settlement in British Columbia and the Pearl Delta Area as well as Japanese Canadian studies collections. The Asian Library's rare book collection, mainly from the Puban collection, ranks first in North America. The Chinese collection ranked third in North America in number of volumes at the time of publication of Endymion Wilkinson's "Chinese History: A Manual" in 2000.

Irving K. Barber Learning Centre/Main Library

Main Library underwent major renovations beginning in 2002. In Phase 1, the North Wing was demolished and rebuilt. It now houses the bookstacks of the facility. Once the renovated North Wing opened, the old South Wing and "heritage core" of Main Library was closed, with the South Wing being demolished, and the heritage core stripped to the original frame and exterior from 1925. The South Wing was officially opened to the public on February 25th, 2008, with the heritage core opening in late March 2008. The building is now known as the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

Notable features include the first Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) in Canada, which is referred to as the "library robot." The system increases the amount of storage space available, but has been criticized for preventing browsing.

The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre houses science, engineering and fine arts books, rare books and special collections, the University Archives, humanities and social sciences materials, and The Chung Collection of immigration documents. It is also home to the Chapman Learning Commons.

The Learning Centre also houses fine arts materials on architecture, community and regional planning, costume, graphics, sculpture, design, and painting

Okanagan Library

The Okanagan Library serves the University's Okanagan campus in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Walter C. Koerner Library

Koerner Library, designed by Arthur Erickson, was built in 1997, replacing Sedgewick Library. Koerner houses humanities and social sciences, government publications, journals and microforms, and numeric data files, and the Map & Atlas Collection, and is home to some 800,000 volumes. Its postmodern architecture contrasts the Gothic revival design of the original Main Library, from which it is directly across. Koerner is home to the University's Interlibrary loan programme.

Xwi7xwa

Xwi7xwa (pronounced whei-wha)cite web|url=http://www.library.ubc.ca/xwi7xwa/library.htm |title=Xwi7xwa Library|publisher=University of British Columbia|accessdate=2006-11-24] Library, located in the First Nations Longhouse, houses a collection of twelve thousand items relating to First Nations in British Columbia, and resources on indigenous peoples from across Canada and internationally. The name comes from the Squamish Nation word meaning "echo."

Other branches

* The Biomedical Branch Library is located at Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre
* Crane Library is located in the Brock Hall Annex and is an academic resource centre for disabled students, staff, and faculty
* David Lam Library houses materials relating to commerce and business administration
* The Education Library houses curriculum materials and other education materials, including children's books
* Extension Library provides online, phone and mail service for off-campus UBC credit course and correspondence course students
* Hamber Library is located at Children's & Women's Health Centre of BC, and is part of the Life Sciences Libraries network
* The Law Library houses law-related materials, and occupies three floors of the Law Complex
* The Mathematics Library houses mathematics and statistics related materials
* The Music Library houses music materials, including scores and many rare recordings
* The MacMillan Library contains materials relating to forestry, agricultural sciences and food sciences
* Robson Square Library serves the needs of students, faculty, staff, and community researchers at UBC's downtown Vancouver campus
* Woodward Biomedical Library contains materials on health and life sciences

There are also several theological libraries associated with Regent College and the Vancouver School of Theology.

References

External links

* [http://www.library.ubc.ca UBC Library Home Page]