The University of Washington Libraries are among the largest academic research libraries

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

 in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and winner of the 2004 ACRL "Excellence in Academic Libraries Award". They are located in the state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Washington, USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

The University of Washington Libraries has a collection of more than seven million cataloged volumes, six million in microform format, more than 50,000 serial titles, and several million items in other formats. The Libraries website provides the connection to a wide range of print and electronic resources available in the Libraries and on the World Wide Web.

Services and resources are provided primarily for University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

 students, faculty, and staff as part of the Libraries' mission to support teaching, learning, research, and service at the University of Washington. Visitors who come to the Libraries are welcome to use most resources and many of the services. Researchers throughout the world have access to a broad range of materials and various interlibrary loan and document delivery services.

The Libraries system is composed of the Suzzallo and Allen Libraries

Suzzallo Library

Suzzallo Library is the central library of the University of Washington in Seattle, and perhaps the most recognizable building on campus. It is named for Henry Suzzallo, who was president of the University of Washington until he stepped down in 1926, the same year the first phase of the library's...

, the primary location for information and services in the social sciences and humanities; the Odegaard Undergraduate Library (OUGL) which houses the Odegaard Learning Commons; the Health Sciences Library and Information Center (HSLIC); the East Asia Library; fifteen specialized branch libraries; the Bothell/CCC Library; and the Tacoma Library. The Marian G. Gallagher Law Library and Elisabeth C. Miller Library are administered separately from the UW Libraries system.

Library Services

• Access for Persons with Disabilities
• UW Libraries Catalog
  • Summit
• Circulation
• Computing and Networking Services
• Copying and Public Printing Facilities

• Grants and Funding Information Service (GFIS)
• Information Services
• Instructional Services
• Interlibrary Loan
• Reserves

Libraries and Units

• Architecture and Urban Planning Library
• Art Library
• UW Bothell/CCC Library, UW Bothell
• Chemistry Library
• Drama Library. Of special note are the more than 14,000 acting editions and sound effects from the BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
  
  , CBS
  CBS
  CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
  
   and Sound Ideas
  Sound Ideas
  Sound Ideas is the repository of one of the largest commercially available sound effects libraries in the world. It has accumulated the sound effects, which it releases in collections on CD and hard drive, through acquisition, exclusive arrangement with movie studios, and in-house...
  
  .
• East Asia Library
• Engineering Library. The library is a designated Patent and Trademark Depository Library and maintains a national depository for the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Special resources include industry standards, technical reports, and U.S. patent specifications from 1966 to the present.
• Fisheries-Oceanography Library. This collection no longer exists within its own branch building - it has joined the main library.
• Foster Business Library
• Friday Harbor Library. Special materials include collections of reprints, papers and theses based on research conducted at the Friday Harbor Laboratories
  Friday Harbor Laboratories
  Friday Harbor Laboratories , is a marine biology field station of the University of Washington, located in Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, Washington, USA. FHL was founded in 1904 by University of Washington Zoology Professor Trevor Kincaid...
  
  .
• Government Publications
• Health Sciences Library and Information Center
• International Studies
  • Near East
  • Slavic and East European
  • Southeast Asia
• K.K. Sherwood-Harborview Library
• Map Collection and Cartographic Information Services
• Mathematics Research Library
• Media Center
• Microform and Newspaper Collections
• Music Library
  • Music Listening Center. Among the special resources are the Eric Offenbacher Collection of pre-LP vocal recordings of the music of Mozart, the Hazel B. Kinsella Collection of American hymnals and tune books, the Melville Harris Collection of early disc and cylinder recordings of woodwind solos, and a collection of 17th and 18th century opera scores.
• Natural Sciences Library
• Odegaard Undergraduate Library (OUGL)
• Periodicals
• Physics-Astronomy Library
• Reference and Research Services
• Social Work Library
• Special Collections
• Suzzallo and Allen Libraries
  Suzzallo Library
  Suzzallo Library is the central library of the University of Washington in Seattle, and perhaps the most recognizable building on campus. It is named for Henry Suzzallo, who was president of the University of Washington until he stepped down in 1926, the same year the first phase of the library's...
  
  
• UW Tacoma Library, UW Tacoma
• Other Libraries
  • Elisabeth C. Miller Library
  • Marian G. Gallagher Law Library