The University of Mississippi Libraries includes the John Davis Williams Library (191,261 sq ft), the Science Library (10,890 sq ft) which is housed in the Thad Cochran Natural Products Center, and an Annex building (15,200 sq ft), housing the Modern Political Archives and low use materials, which is located across the street from the Science Library. The Williams Library and the Science Library are open to the public while the Annex is closed to the public; materials are retrieved for users. The Williams Library is the general library for the University community and houses the main collection of books, periodicals, microforms, manuscripts, government publications, audio visual materials, and maps. The three library facilities hold 1,725,944 books and 41,257 periodical titles. The Libraries also provide access to over 460 electronic databases and 90,460 electronic journals and 304,866 electronic books.

The addition of a Starbucks coffee shop and soft seating to the Williams Library has improved how the users view the Library as a place. Over 150 public workstations are available in the libraries. In addition, both the Williams Library and the Science Library offer free wireless access. The Libraries include eight staffed service points, and they are open 192 hours/week during the regular semesters, and they offer 24/7 service for finals, the last three weeks of each regular semester. In addition to traditional circulation and reference service, the Libraries also offer email and chat reference service.

The Library has been a depository for U.S. government publications since 1883 and is one of only 50 regional depositories in the nation. The Government Information and Media Service Department holds 3,670,000 items, including print, microforms, maps, and electronic media. The Department also receives Mississippi state documents. The Library has a range of audio visual equipment to support the collections. In addition to six microform reader printers, the Libraries also have two microform digitizers.

The Department of Archives and Special Collections houses one of the world’s finest collections of books, manuscripts, and memorabilia devoted to William Faulkner. The Mississippi Collection, a part of Archives and Special Collections, contains more than 46,000 volumes and 700 manuscript collections of Mississippiana. Exhibits of interest to students and the general public are regularly presented by the Department of Archives and Special Collections. A number of these exhibits as well as selections from printed catalogs are now also online.

Photo by Nathan Latil/Ole Miss Communications