2014-2015 Undergraduate & Graduate Catalog
University Libraries
University Libraries
Administration
Dean: Lee Van Orsdel
Associate Dean of Research and Instruction: Julie Garrison
Associate Dean of Technology and Information Services: Carlos Rodriguez
Director of Special Collections and University Archives: Robert Beasecker
Director of Planning and Organizational Resources: Lynell De Wind
Website
www.gvsu.edu/library
Mission
The Grand Valley State University libraries enrich the educational mission of the university by advancing intellectual growth and discovery. Through the acquisition, application, dissemination, and preservation of knowledge, we promote teaching, learning, and active scholarship.
Library Services
Grand Valley State University was the proud recipient of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 2012 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award: www.ala.org/acrl/awards/achievementawards/. The University Libraries offer dynamic and diverse opportunities for research, collaboration, and individual study. From four unique locations (the Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons and the Seidman House, both in Allendale; the Steelcase Library at the Richard M. DeVos Center in Grand Rapids; and the Frey Foundation Learning Center in the Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences in Grand Rapids), the libraries serve the entire Grand Valley community. Each library's collection is tailored to its location and the programs it serves, with daily deliveries of physical materials between all University Libraries locations.
The Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons, which opened in June of 2013, offers students a wholly new academic library environment that features a suite of unique programs and services to enhance students' learning experiences, including peer consultant services that help students hone their skills in research, writing, and presenting. Other services that support student research and increase student efficiency include research consultations with professional librarians, a suite of online subject guides to help students find relevant resources on their topics, desktop delivery of journal articles across campuses, an interlibrary loan service that borrows materials from other institutions, and electronic course reserves for required class readings. General reference help is available through email or chat (www.gvsu.edu/chat), by phone, or in person at any of our locations.
Technology in the Libraries
Personal computers (PCs), laptops, iPads, and printers are available for use in the Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons, Steelcase Library, and the Frey Foundation Learning Center.
Library Collections
The University Libraries house a robust collection of resources in multiple formats that support the research and scholarship activities of students and faculty members, including over 650,000 print volumes, 60,000 electronic journals, and more than one million e-books. Grand Valley State University is a depository for United States government documents.
Curriculum Materials Library (CML)
Located in the DeVos Center on the Robert C. Pew Grand Rapids Campus, the center has current, high-quality instructional materials for preschool through grade 12 and provides spaces where education majors can preview resources, develop lesson plans, create media for the classroom, and try out teaching aides.
Special Collections
Seidman House on the Allendale Campus contains both the University Archives and the libraries' Special Collections. The latter includes substantial numbers of rare books, Michigan novels, the Harvey Lemmen Collection on Lincoln and the Civil War, the Johnson Center Philanthropy Archives, and the papers of acclaimed Michigan author Jim Harrison, among others. Overlooking the ravine, Seidman House also offers a quiet study area during business hours.
Digital Collections
Grand Valley State University Digital Collections contain a selection of photographs, correspondence, diaries, interviews, and publications from the holdings of the libraries' Special Collections and University Archives, and other university entities. This expanding resource makes unique or rare materials from Grand Valley collections available electronically to students, faculty members, administrators, researchers, and the general public.
ScholarWorks@GVSU
ScholarWorks@GVSU is an online repository of research and scholarly outputs by Grand Valley faculty members and students, selected and deposited by individual university departments and centers on campus. Since its launch in 2008, works in the repository have been downloaded nearly a million times by readers from all 50 states and 191 different countries around the world.