Adams Library

The James P. Adams Library provides:

• Access to information in print and online.
• Reference services in person and through use of several icons, such as  “Text Us” and “Email” on the library homepage.
• One-on-one research consultation.
• Public computers for use throughout the building.  
• Laptops, iPads, Nexus 7 tablets, external hard drives and graphing calculators for loan.

The library collection today includes 151,873 eBooks, 54,116 journals in electronic format and 101 databases, all of which are accessible both on and off campus. Print holdings include 545,755 items and 158 periodicals. The library also has a collection of technical reports, newspapers and government publications, a DVD collection of films and documentaries, a variety of music CDs and a rotating collection of popular fiction and non-fiction books for recreational reading.

Your RIC ID is your library card. During the 2015-16 academic year, 52,002 items from the library’s collection were circulated.

Library faculty collaborate with college faculty to create library instruction for specific courses focused on the discovery, use and evaluation of library resources and information on the web. The library provided 182 library instruction sessions which were attended by 3,046 students during the 2015-16 academic year. These sessions are conducted by the reference librarians, who also answer about 6,740 reference questions a year.

The library’s participation in the Higher Education Library Information Network (HELIN) allows the RIC community to borrow from academic libraries throughout the state with a click of a button in the online catalog. Users can request items not available in the HELIN consortium through the library’s Document Delivery Service. During the past year the RIC library borrowed 5,956 items from other libraries and lent 4,123 items, for a total of 10,079 items.

The College Archives, a rich depository of the history and records of Rhode Island College, as well as faculty and alumni publications and student theses, are located in the Special Collections Department. Special Collections includes a number of subject collections consisting of papers, books, manuscripts and other resources that document the state’s education, ethnic and socio-political history. A growing number of student theses and honor projects, faculty publications and Special Collections materials are also accessible electronically in the Digital Commons.

The Curriculum Resources Center, housed within the library, provides instructional material and curriculum development resources for teachers and teacher education programs.

Information about library hours, services and resources can be found on the Adams Library website at library.ric.edu.