Gorgas Library Description

Gorgas Library is named for Amelia Gayle Gorgas, the first female librarian at the University of Alabama. Gorgas Library was the first academic building on campus named for a female. Gorgas Library houses collections for social sciences and humanities. Located on the Quad, it is considered the main library of the University system. Close to 900,000 students and faculty visit the Library each year. Computers supporting over 100 software programs in addition to library resources, are located throughout the building. The first floor features a learning commons area with one area devoted to computers with larger screens. Subject and instruction librarians are available to assist faculty and students. Additional collections and services in Gorgas include:

• Regional Government Documents collections
• Alabama Digital Humanities Center on the first floor
• Music Library on the first floor
• Sanford Media Center on the second floor
• A.S. Williams Collection on the third floor
• InterLibrary Loan Department on the second floor

First Floor

Located on the first floor, the Gorgas Library Learning Commons provides students with computers equipped with the latest productivity and academic software used in classrooms and laboratories. The area provides space for students to study together for group projects or individually.

Also located on the first floor is the Digital Humanities Center, a hi-tech environment for faculty and graduate students, the Information Desk, the Music Library, and a coffee shop. The new books for Gorgas Library are shelved together in call number order in a bookcase on the west side of the first floor near the fireplace. Books remain on the New Book Shelf for four weeks before being moved to the regular stacks.

Second Floor

The Circulation Desk, Gorgas 205 (a large meeting room for University events), the Pearce Foyer (exhibition space), group study spaces, and the Sanford Media Center, a leading-edge facility for digital media production for students, are all located on the second floor.

National, state, and international newspapers are located in the Reference Reading Room on the second floor. Current issues of periodicals still received in print are located on 4M. Most of our periodicals are now available in electronic form.

Current periodicals and newspapers are for in-building use only and cannot be checked out to individuals.

Third Floor

Housed on the third floor is the A.S. Williams III Americana Collection, an exceptionally rich collection of history including books, photographs, maps, manuscripts and signed presidential documents. The collection contains one-of-a-kind items and focuses on the history and culture of the South.