The Joseph Regenstein Library

Collections

The Joseph Regenstein Library is home to over 4.5 million print volumes focusing on subjects in the humanities and social sciences, as well as business, divinity, and area studies.

Bookstacks

Regenstein's bookstacks, housing its circulating collections, are located on every floor except the first. The entrance to the stacks is in the west half of the building on the A-Level and on floors 2-5. The B-Level is entirely bookstacks. Floorplans and call number guides for the bookstacks are posted on each floor to assist you.

Reference Collections

Reference materials for disciplines in the humanities and social sciences are located in the Library's reading rooms on the following floors:

• 1st Floor: Business and General Reference
• 2nd Floor: Anthropology, Geography, Political Science, Slavic Studies, and Sociology
• 3rd Floor: Cinema, English and Western European Languages and Literature, History, and Music
• 4th Floor: Ancient Near East, Art, Classics, Education, Jewish Studies, Philosophy, Psychology, and Religion
• 5th Floor: East Asia, Middle East, Linguistics, and Southern Asia

Current Periodicals and Newspapers

The majority of the Library's current periodicals are shelved in the Periodicals Reading Room, located on the east side of the second floor. Current periodicals for Middle Eastern Studies, East Asian Studies, and South Asian Studies are located with their corresponding reference collections on the fifth floor. The Library also provides access to over 100,000 online periodicals and newspapers.

Special Collections Research Center

The Special Collections Research Center, located on the 1st floor, is the Library’s home for rare books, archives, and manuscripts, as well as the Chicago Jazz Archive.

Other Collections

• Microforms Collection: The Library’s microfilm and microfiche are housed on the 3rd floor. Machines for viewing, copying, and scanning microforms are available near the collection.
• Map Collection: The Map Collection in Room 370 holds thousands of maps, aerial photos, atlases, and books. Computers with geographic information system (GIS) software are available to help users create their own maps.
• Recordings Collection: The Library’s music and spoken word collections, including compact discs, cassettes, and LPs, are held in the Recordings Collection on the 3rd Floor.
• Video/DVDs collection and the Digital Media Collection (CD-ROMs) are shelved on the 4th floor.
• Dissertations: Most humanities and social sciences dissertations and theses are shelved in the A-Level reading area.
• K-12 Curriculum Materials Collection (CMC): Located on the 4th floor, the CMC is a circulating collection of teaching materials in a variety of formats.
• Test Collection: Over 5,200 published standardized printed instruments utilized in the fields of education and psychology are located on the 4th floor.
• Regenstein Closed Stack Collection: An on-site, pageable collection that provides an interim solution to Regenstein's space constraints. You may request items in the Closed Stack at the Circulation desk on the first floor or by clicking here.