As the center for intellectual endeavor at Hendrix College, the Olin C. and Marjorie H. Bailey Library actively responds to the research and instructional needs of Hendrix students and faculty. The Library works with all members of the Hendrix community to establish a nurturing environment that promotes scholarship, learning, creativity, and the freedom of inquiry that is the foundation of a democratic society.
Library services include access to print and electronic collections, reference (research consultation) services, instructional sessions, and interlibrary loan. The Bailey Library houses library collections, Reference Services, the Information Commons, the Hendrix College Archives, the Arkansas United Methodist Archives, a 24-hour accessible student computer lab – part of which can be converted into a teaching classroom, a writing lab, 24-hour study rooms, a computer equipped bibliographic instructional lab, and a media classroom.
Collections and Access to the World of Knowledge
The Library boasts an outstanding small academic collection with 233,500 bound volumes, 31,000 ebooks, 8,000 government documents, and access to over 65,500 electronic journal titles. The Library’s books, government documents, and media are searchable on the Library’s online catalog, where students and faculty can also access their library accounts. Most of the Library’s electronic resources, including many full text journals, are accessible here.
Bailey Library provides electric access to 60 article and book databases, both multidisciplinary, such as WorldCat and JSTOR, and subject specific, such as the American Chemical Society’s Web Edition and PsycINFO. The Library offers an array of primary source databases for student and faculty research, including Historical Newspapers, the American Periodical Series, and the U.S. Serial Set. Students may borrow materials from the main book collection for three weeks, and check out materials professors put on reserve for shorter periods of time. A number of bicycles are also available for a three-day check out. Presentation of a valid college identification card is necessary to borrow library materials. The privilege of borrowing the intellectual content of the Library requires a commitment to care responsibly for the items, return them on time, and pay for damages as necessary. Hendrix students can also borrow materials from the University of Central Arkansas’ Torreyson Library and Central Baptist College's Story Library. Up to three books may be borrowed for 28 days upon presenting a Hendrix identification card. Current issues of print journals, along with their backfiles, are on the first floor. The reference collection, a browse-able video collection, microforms, and government documents are also on the first floor. The second floor has main collection books, including juvenile books, the Hendrix College Archives, and group study rooms. The Hendrix College Archives is dedicated to preserving the history and legacy of Hendrix College and to making available its collections to researchers. Researchers can access some materials by searching finding aids and digitized materials on the Archives’ website. The Wilbur D. Mills Collection is also housed in the Bailey Library and is available to researchers by appointment.
The First Step to Effective Research: Consult a Librarian
Librarians are happy to help locate quality resources supporting research and classroom work and to assist with the critical evaluation of academic information. Countless hours can be saved by asking a librarian to recommend reference works, research databases, Internet sites, or library collections that are appropriate to research needs. Librarians additionally provide individual reference assistance, tours, and workshops. Many professors incorporate instruction sessions led by a librarian in their classes to orient students on finding relevant information for their research papers. If needed information is not in the Bailey collections, librarians can identify relevant materials within other libraries’ print and electronic collections and can provide easy access through Inter library Loan.
Media Collections (Bailey Library)
The Media Collection contains almost 3,000 VHS tapes and DVDs of popular and academic titles and over 1,000 CDs, including classical, jazz, and popular music – all available for a 3-day checkouts at the Bailey Library Check-Out Desk. Researchers can also stream music online through the Naxos Music Library database and access foreign language films through Mango, a foreign language acquisition database. Many of the titles in the Library’s collections are placed by faculty on reserve so that they can be viewed in the Library’s media carrels. All of the video and music titles are searchable on the Library’s online catalog.