The vast majority of Ely Library's physical collections are located in what we call the stacks (or main bookshelves), which can be accessed via the hallway immediately to the right upon entering the library. In addition to books, cds, dvds, and journals, the stacks floors also have study carrels and seats available for student use.
Main Collection
Ely Library's Main Collection, located on floors 2-5 of the stacks, contains over 120,000 books on a wide range of topics supporting all areas of the Westfield State University curriculum, organized by subject using the Library of Congress classification system. There are signs posted in the elevator and on the entrance to each floor that describe which subjects are held on which floors. You can use the Ely Library website to search for a specific title or topic, or you can browse the collection.
Oversize Collection
Items that do not fit on the regular Main Collection shelves are located in the Oversize Collection on the second floor of the stacks. This collection includes a significant number of art and music titles, as well as other materials.
Audio Collection
Ely Library's audio collection is a collection of over 500 albums in CD format, consisting primarily of classical, jazz, and contemporary music and a small collection of recorded lectures and other spoken content. The collection is located on the second floor of the stacks.
Video Collection
Ely Library's Video Collection contains over 1600 DVDs including feature films, documentaries, educational film, theatrical performances and more. The collection is located on the second floor of the stacks.
Journals and Periodicals
All of the library's collection of print journals and periodicals are located on the fifth floor of the stacks. These are primarily historical runs of journals that are not available electronically and subscriptions to current journals that are not available to the library via electronic access. Library users can search for both print and electronic journals using the Journals A-Z search.
Popular Reading
Upon entering the library, you will see the new book shelf and the Popular Reading Collection, which contains works that are oriented towards recreational reading, including adult and young adult fiction and popular non-fiction titles. If there is something you want to read for fun, please let us know!
Ely Library Zine Collection
Next to the Popular Reading Collection you will find the Ely Library Zine Collection. At Ely Library, we define zines as independently published, small-circulation magazines, which can be made by anyone on any topic. In the Zine Collection, we have zines on a variety of topics like gender identity, mushroom foraging, art, photography, voting, health insurance, Indigenous poetry, cats, queer horror, and so much more!
Reference Collection
The Ely Library Print Reference Collection includes over 3,000 encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, and other reference materials to help library users get background information on a topic. Print reference materials must generally be used in the library, but even more content is available through the library's online reference collections from both on- and off-campus.
Education Resources Collection (ERC)
The ERC contains over 15,000 items related to the field of education. Materials in the Education Resources Center include books for children and young adults, early readers, big books, games, unit plans, textbooks, lesson plans, activity books, kits, children’s magazines as well as other resources for K-12 educators. You can borrow and use these items to enrich and add interest to lesson plans and classes you will teach as a student teacher. The ERC also includes a test collection that can be accessed upon request.
Reserves and Ask at Circulation Desk
Some items in the library's collection are held at the circulation desk. This includes Course Reserves, some videos and textbooks, and items that can be checked out for use in the library's group study spaces.
Located on the 6th floor and available by appointment only, the University Archives includes selected University publications, faculty and student publications, institutional and academic documents, University Committee records, Board of Trustee records, administrative records, photographs, publicity, and student life records.
Databases, Ebook Collections, and Streaming Media
Ely Library's Digital Collections include over 90,000 ejournals, 400,000 ebooks, 150,000 audio tracks, and 50,000 streaming videos. The library maintains guides to accessing our streaming media and ebooks collections, but all of our electronic resources can be accessed from the library's Databases A-Z page.
Digital Repository
WSU’s Digital Repository collects, preserves, and provides access to the digital scholarship and materials from the Westfield State University community.
