About the Library

The Hampshire College library is a dynamic hub of people, technology, and information that serves as an incubator of ideas across all disciplines. Educating for change demands comprehension of the past and vision for the future. The library's innovative and risk-taking intellectual environment fosters new ways of creating knowledge and understanding.

We aspire to:

• Serve as a welcoming social and intellectual center of the College.
• Partner with students, faculty, and staff in reimagining the library.
• Embrace transformations in research and collections, building on the foundational collaboration between collections, technology, and media to redefine library services.
• Create connections between people, tools, and ideas.
• Empower a creative and energetic staff to experiment, expand the library's reach across campus, and anticipate student needs in a rapidly changing world.
• Adapt and design collections, formats, and access to promote an open learning environment.

We can help you with:

• Finding a topic for a paper or project
• Finding research materials (articles, books, music, films, images, etc.) for papers and projects
• Finding, checking out, and renewing library materials
• Requesting materials outside of the Five Colleges via interlibrary loan (ILL)
• Navigating course reserves and bookings
• Figuring out computer programs and software
• Using media for projects and presentations
• Using Moodle course websites.
• Printing and copying
• Plus referrals and resources for further expert help!

About the Library

• Hours
• Featured spaces
• Off-campus access
• Policies, loan periods, equipment, and building use
• Annual Reports
• Staff

Facts and Figures

Collections, as of June 2016:

• 129,804 Physical Books
• 368,913 E-books (includes Five College E-Books)
• 8,280 Bound Journals
• 307 Print Journal Subscriptions
• 53,059 E-Journal (online) Subscriptions
• 1,322 Databases
• 105,694 Streaming Media items
• 3,369 Div IIIs
• 5,178 Music CDs
• 3,956 DVDs and Videos
• 893 16mm Films
• 321 Games
• 366 Seeds
• 1,260 Zines

The Five College Integrated Library System

The Five College integrated library system, ALEPH, from major library systems vendor Ex Libris, provides access to Hampshire's library collections as well as those of the other Five Colleges. It allows Hampshire students, faculty, and staff to request books from the other colleges to be sent to Hampshire for pickup, as well as view and/or renew the books they have checked out from each of the libraries.

Browse the Five College Libraries Catalog