During the Fall and Winter terms, the library is open 68 hours each week for students to access material resources, reference assistance and class-specific, assignment-based library research instruction. For students looking for a quiet place to work, individually or in a group, the Library has individual study carrels and group work areas. Students and faculty have access to the following library resources:

• Information Literacy Instruction (ILI)
  Effective ILI is a key service for students at St. Mary’s University College. In consultation with faculty and aligned with course objectives, the Director of Library Services creates library research sessions incorporating the requirements of specific course assignments. The sessions typically occur during class time, day or evening. Course Research Guides are posted on the library’s website to allow students to access information literacy tools and information directly related to specific course.


• Inter-Library Loans (ILL)
  St. Mary's University College Library offers an ILL service for our users to obtain books and articles from journals not currently in the library’s collections or which are not available from within the ILS consortium. ILL requests can be made for materials in other libraries throughout the province of Alberta. In addition, the library processes ILL requests from faculty and students for materials from outside the province of Alberta and outside Canada. Students and faculty can locate materials in other Alberta libraries using TAL Online (a web-based federated search engine providing access to over 25 million items in 258 Alberta libraries) and to supplement bibliographic utilities within the Library.

The Library is an integrated learning environment that provides students with the information research skills to identify, access and effectively use information. In addition to an expanding array of full-text academic electronic resource, the Library provides students with access to a growing collection of over 26 000 titles: books, journals, and audio-visual materials:

• monographs (books): 27,258 titles
• journals/serials: 310 titles
• audio/visual materials: 1,133 titles
• printed reference materials: 1,370 titles
• electronic databases: 78 titles
• electronic books: 150,000 (via Eighteenth Century Collection Online)
• special collections: 564 titles

Collection Strengths

1. Mediæval Studies
   With a strong focus on institutional history, particularly monasticism and Cistercian studies, St. Mary's University College Library's houses a comprehensive collection of mediæval studies. The collection includes not only primary source materials but mediæval philosophy and art history and materials in mediæval literature:
   
   
• Latin;
• Celtic languages;
• French;
• German; and
• Italian.



2. Canadian History
   The collection at St. Mary's University College Library is especially strong in Canadian history, social and religious studies. The collection offers students comprehensive research material on the years before and after confederation with a particular emphasis on the formation and development of western Canada.


3. English Literature
   The collection at St. Mary's University College Library offers researchers a growing collection of materials related to theory and criticism, classical studies, drama, and American Literatures. Contemporary Canadian literature is also represented by a collection of poetry and fiction by established authors.


4. Electronic Resources
   The Library’s subscriptions to electronic databases provide students with access to information in all areas of study offered at the College. Students have access to these electronic databases on the computer workstations in the Library and in the two adjacent Computer Labs.

The library has a total of 51 workstations and one audio-visual station:

• Library reference workstations
  The library has seven research computers with access to the library catalogue, electronic databases, CD-ROM databases and the internet. Students may use these workstations for e-mail and software applications.


• Library computer labs
  The computer labs in the library (B104 and B105) contain a total of 44 workstations. During the Library's open hours and when not booked for classes, the computer labs are available to students for e-mail, software use and library research.


• Audio-visual station
  Right next to the Audio/Visual (A/V) collection, the library maintains one audiovisual viewing station. This station fully supports VHS and DVD formats. As well, students and faculty can view DVD’s on any of the 51 workstations housed in the library.

St. Mary's University College Library is involved is a number of partnerships and organizations that add to and extend the Library's resources and services:

• Southern Alberta Integrated Libraries (SAIL)
  The Library is a member of the SAIL, an integrated Library System partner ship with the University of Calgary, Bow Valley College, and Ambrose University College (AUC). This provides St. Mary’s students with access and borrowing privileges to the collections of our partners in this consortium.


• The Alberta Libraries (TAL)
  The Library is a member of The Alberta Library (TAL) giving our students access to resources in academic libraries throughout Alberta. In addition to borrowing privileges at these libraries, students of St. Mary’s College have on-site access to the resources, both traditional and electronic, that these libraries offer. Local TAL partners are the University of Calgary libraries, the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) and the Calgary Public Library. For resources not available in Calgary, our Interlibrary Loan Service will acquire the materials our students require.


• Lois Hole Campus Alberta Digital Library (LHCADL)
  St. Mary’s University College Library is a participant in the ongoing TAL initiative, the LHCADL. Participation in this endeavour will provide access to a significant number of full-text electronic resources that support St. Mary's University College Programs. It provides participating post-secondary institutions with digital information resources for teaching, learning and research. Currenlty the LHCADL contains over 4.5 million licensed items, including 900 000 full-text items supporting subject areas such as science and technology, fine arts, humanities, and the social sciences.


• Campus Calgary Digital Library (CCDL)
  St. Mary’s University College is a partner in the CCDL, an initiative that facilitates resource sharing and promotes universal, barrier-free access to the materials and resources in Alberta's libraries. The CCDL will see the university’s vast electronic holdings made available to every post-secondary student in Calgary. Digital licenses will be extended to post-secondary partners as part of the Campus Calgary initiatives and all St. Mary’s students, researchers and faculty will have the same access to print material from the archival and museum collections as University of Calgary students and faculty.