About the Library

Mission

 

In keeping with the University's nature as a church-related, liberal arts institution, Riley-Hickingbotham Library's mission is to be an integral part of the academic program by providing excellent service through bibliographical, physical, and intellectual access to recorded knowledge and information and, insofar as possible, sharing resources with individuals and institutions in the larger scholarly community.

Facilities and Remote Access

 

Riley-Hickingbotham Library serves Ouachita and the community as a learning center, supporting the educational process with varied types of media.  It accomplishes that task through the main library - which offers a Technology Enhanced Collaborative (TEC) study room, group study rooms, individual study space, PCs, and WiFi - and through the music library in Mabee Fine Arts Center. All users may access the library’s resources on campus.  Remote access is limited to current Ouachita students and employees.

Collections and Services

 

The main library provides access to a wide range of resources. The main book collection has approximately 170,000 volumes and thousands of ebook titles among its holdings.

As a selective depository of government resources, the library curates a variety of federal publications, most of which are accessible online.

The periodicals collection provides digital and print access to numerous journals, magazines, and newspapers. Many titles are accessible in the EbscoHost, ProQuest, and JSTOR databases. The library also subscribes to general and subject-specific reference databases. Among the microform collections are the Educational Resource Information Center (ERIC) File, the American Culture Series (pre-1874 American publications), the Black History Collection, the Literature of Theology and Church History in North America, the University Music Editions reprint series, and the Eastman School of Music’s collection of early music writings.

Instructional Media Services, located on the ground floor of the library, supports campus media technology; provides access to portable projection equipment and the library's video collection; and offers media laminating service.

Special Collections include those of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, Clark County Historical Association, University Archives, and Rare Books section of the main library. A growing collection of political papers - including those of the late Senator John L. McClellan, the District’s two most recent Congressmen, and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee - is likewise part of Special Collections.

The library’s discovery catalog facilitates searching all of the library’s holdings simultaneously and expanding searches to include neighboring libraries and libraries worldwide.

Ouachita's Scholarly Commons is the online repository of the scholarship, creative works, and historical record of Ouachita Baptist University. This service represents the institution's commitment to the preservation, organization, open access, and dissemination of these resources, produced by the faculty, students, staff, and alumni of the university.

Current Ouachita students and employees may access materials beyond the library's holdings via interlibrary loan service with libraries nationwide and reciprocal borrowing agreements with Henderson State University's Huie Library and the ArkLink Library Consortium.