Library Collections

Books  ||  Magazines & Newspapers  ||  Microforms  ||  Databases  ||  Internet Reference Collection
Music CDs  ||  College Catalogs  ||  Course Reserves  ||  Leisure Reading  ||  College Archives || SRJC Yearbooks || Special Collections

Books

The Library provides a collection of nearly 152,000 printed books which support instruction and learning at SRJC. Books in the Reference collection (encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, etc.) are books which we refer to for quick information. They generally do not need to be read cover-to-cover, and they must be used inside the library buildings. However, most of the Library's books are in the circulating collection, and they can be checked out for home use. (For information on how materials are selected, see the SRJC Library Acquisitions Policy and Supplement.)

In addition to the printed book collection, the Library offers access to over 19,000 electronic books which are linked from the Library's catalog and also to other collections of online reference books which can be found in the Library's online databases. (See "Online Databases" below.)

Magazines and Newspapers

The Library offers a collection of approximately 400 current periodical subscriptions in paper and/or microform format. These periodicals are listed by title in the Library's catalog and also in the printed "Periodicals Holdings" list which can be found in both of the campus libraries.

In addition to the paper and microform periodicals, our periodicals collection is greatly enhanced by the Library's rich collection of online databases (see below) which brings the total collection of the Library's periodicals to over 9,300 magazines, newspapers and scholarly journals. (The ProQuest Newspapers database alone offers articles from over 690 U.S. and world newspapers.)

And...the Library is just beginning to provide online access to some individual journals, such as the American Journal of Botany. You can find these on the web page which highlights online journals and collections of e-journals which are not in the library's collection of subscription databases.

The Library offers a complete Library Periodicals List online. This list tells which periodicals are in any of the Library's collections, regardless of format. That is, it lists all full-text periodicals available through the Library's subscriptions, whether they are found in paper or microform format or in one of the Library's online databases. Consult the Periodicals List also to find out which databases contain a specific periodical title you need or to see a list of periodicals available in a particular subject area.

Microforms

Older issues of some of the Library's magazines and newspapers are available only in microform format. In this older technology, every page of the original publication is photocopied, then the pages are reduced to a size so small that they can only be read with the aid of a machine, a microform reader. The tiny images are put on a roll of film ("microfilm") or on a 4x6" card ("microfiche.").

Microfilm and microfiche collections in the Doyle Library are housed in black filing cabinets just South of the Periodicals Desk area. A microform reader/printer is located near the Doyle Library Periodicals Desk. Microforms in the Mahoney Library are kept at the Circulation Desk.

Online Databases

The SRJC Library offers students, faculty and staff free access to over 45 online databases which contain millions of articles from magazines, scholarly journals, newspapers, encyclopedias, statistical sources and sets of standard Reference books which specialize in the subject areas of art, literature, science and more. Use the databases also to identify articles on a particular topic in many of the Library's printed magazines and newspapers. SRJC students and staff may use the databases from on campus or off. Off campus use requires a User Name and PIN.

(Our license agreements with the database publishers do not allow us to offer public access to these databases, but the Sonoma County Library offers its own set of online databases which are available to any County resident with a library card.)

Internet Reference Collection

Looking for good websites on a particular topic? The Library's Internet Reference Collection lists hundreds of websites selected by SRJC librarians for use in answering questions we receive from SRJC's students and faculty.

Music CDs

A collection of music CDs, both classical and popular, is available for check-out through the Media Services Department. CDs are listed in the Library's online catalog. (Use the catalog's "Search Limits" feature to limit your search to the "medium:" "Sound Recording," then enter your search terms.)

College Catalogs

A small collection of catalogs from other colleges and universities is shelved near the Reserve Desk (fourth floor) in the Doyle Library. Today, most colleges have their catalogs on their websites. College and university websites can be accessed from the Colleges & Universities page in the Library's Internet Reference Collection.

Course Reserves

Materials which an instructor wants an entire class to read are put on "course reserve" in the libraries. These include articles, pamphlets, sample tests and papers from previous classes, instructors' copies of some SRJC textbooks, and more. Reserve materials are usually limited to library use only so that all students in the class get a chance to use them.

Leisure Reading Collection

While most books in the Library collection are selected to support the SRJC curriculum, a very small collection of books for recreational or leisure reading is often displayed in the libraries. Some of these books are eventually added to the Library's regular book collection; others are returned to the supplier. Leisure reading books are listed in the Library's catalog, but are not given a call number unless they later become added to the regular book collections. In the Doyle Library, they are shelved in the second-floor Reference collection area, at the very end of the call number sequence (i.e. after call numbers which begin with the letter "Z").

SRJC College Archives

A collection of articles, photographs, notes, college yearbooks, student newspapers and other documents related to Santa Rosa Junior College and its history is housed in the Doyle Library. Contact librarian Paula Burks at (707) 527-4544 to arrange an appointment to use the Archives.

SRJC Yearbooks

Copies of Patrin, the SRJC yearbook, are shelved on the second floor of the Doyle Library, at the end of all reference book call numbers. (Patrin ceased publication after 1969.) Patrin volumes are reference books and may be used inside the library only.

Special Collections

The Special Collections room, on the third floor of the Doyle Library, is home to hundreds of old and rare books, dating as far back as the early 1800s. The California Collection, housed there, contains many books on California, Bay Area and Sonoma County history. (Searches in the library catalog can be limited to the California Collection in case you'd like to see the range of books in the collection.) The Special Collections room is locked; to access items located there, take the call numbers for the books you need to the Reserve Desk on the fourth floor. You may use three items at a time.