Public vs. Academic Libraries

Did you know that a mile and a half from Coe College, in down town Cedar Rapids, you will find the Cedar Rapids Public Library (CRPL)?  Why is this important to know when the Stewart Memorial Library (SML) is in the center of campus?

Public and Academic libraries serve different purposes and hold different collections. For example, if you're doing a paper on architecture in Chicago you will find thirteen books on the subject in SML's catalog and one in CRPL's catalog. If you want to take a trip to see architecture in Chicago you will find zero guidebooks to Chicago in SML's catalog and twenty-five in CRPL's catalog. Public libraries contain introductory and popular materials on a wide range of subjects, while academic libraries contain in-depth materials in the disciplines covered by the institution.

For fun lets look at some other comparisons:

There are two copies of "Hunger Games" (a young adult book that has a movie version in theaters right now) in the SML catalog (one is currently lost). There are 79 copies of the book "Hunger Games" in CRPL's catalog. There are also spin-offs such as: 'the official illustrated movie companion', 'the hunger games cookbook', and 'the stars of the hunger games' available at CRPL.

SML has 562 'physics' titles including: "Introduction to University Physics", "The physicists : the history of a scientific community in modern America", and "mathematics and physics for programmers". CRPL has 110 titles including: "The complete idiots guide to physics", "Six roads from Newton: great discoveries in physics" (also owned by SML), and "The manga guide to physics".

Under the subject heading 'knitting' SML has 1 title "The complete idiots guide to knitting and crocheting" an e-book. CRPL has 518 titles under knitting including: "The principles of knitting: methods and techniques of hand knitting", "Knitting Knee Highs: sock styles from classic to contemporary", and "Things I learned from Knitting: whether I wanted to or not". CRPL's collection also includes knitting fiction and knitting juvenile literature.

There are 134 books under the subject headings for Jane Austen in the SML library catalog.  They include: "Jane Austen and the Morality of conversation", "Character development in Pride and Prejudice and Emma", and "A Jane Austen Encyclopedia".  The CRPL catalog has 85 books under the subject Jane Austen including: "Jane Vows Vengeance: a novel", "Jane Austen: a life revealed", and "Pride and Prejudice and zombies: dreadfully ever after".

Hopefully you know all about the Stewart Memorial Library and how to find and check-out books in its collections (if not please don't hesitate to ask!), so I am going to end with a few notes about the Cedar Rapids Public Library.  The CRPL shares its catalog and collections with the Hiawatha and Marion public libraries.  This means their catalog contains books from all of the libraries.  If the book you want is at the Hiawatha Public Library (or Marion) you can request it to be sent to CRPL for pick up.  To do this you need a library card and pin number which can be obtained at any of the public libraries.  The closest to Coe is at: 221 3rd St. SE.

Till next Thursday
Sara