Library and Instruction Services (LIS)

Although the field of Library Science recognizes the contributions and expertise of public services and technical services librarians as distinct, the two units work together as one to provide access, instruction, and resources to all CSU students, faculty, staff and patrons.

Technical Services librarians follow and support national standards and practices in selecting, ordering, organizing, processing and developing information resources and library collections in print, electronic and other media and formats. They account for all expenditures of library acquisitions budgets, maintain a quality online catalog, and support library service-related computing systems and applications. Those include the ProQuest Electronic Thesis and Dissertation system, the library’s server, consortial relationships, and maintenance of ROVER, the Library’s automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS). Technical Services librarians also provide technical support and assistance to the Archives unit.

Public Services librarians take the work of Technical Services librarians and share it with patrons. Reference librarians provide reference assistance and research training to CSU students, faculty, staff, alumni and community patrons. They assist and instruct on all facets of research, information and document retrieval and use of library resources. Reference service is available in person, via email, via chat or over the telephone. Working as partners with teaching faculty, reference librarians conduct library instruction sessions in all academic disciplines. The Access Services and Scholarly Communications Librarian oversees the operations which make access to information possible, including circulation, course reserves, interlibrary loan, and library stacks and collection management.

Library and Instruction Services Mission

Library and Instruction Services provides exemplary information and instructional services to guide learning, teaching, research and discovery for the CSU community. Library Services units support the University mission, values and vision by providing access to global information resources through cutting-edge technology, developing user-centered services that foster academic excellence and student success, and creating spaces where positive transformational academic experiences can occur.

Library and Instruction Services Core Values

To create an environment that fosters:

• Intellectual development and collaborative learning
• Personal accountability and respect for others
• Academic integrity
• Teaching and technological innovation
• Community development and partnerships
• Lifelong learning

Located at the head of the campus, the Gwendolyn Brooks Library is a 142,000-square-foot facility furnished with a library instruction classroom, an information mall with 36 computer workstations for hands-on research assistance and a learning commons to accommodate collaborative learning with comfortable seating, multi-media group study rooms, an all-campus computer lab, a faculty instructional lab, and a sunroom, auditorium and conference rooms for special events, receptions and meetings. The entire building has high speed wireless access.

Hours of Operation

Hours of operation vary during the summer and University holidays. Please check the Library website at http://library.csu.edu/ for information on hours of operation. Access to many Library resources is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week online at http://library.csu.edu.

Library Services

The faculty and staff of the Gwendolyn Brooks Library are responsible for the selection, acquisition, dissemination and instruction in the use of materials and resources in all formats in service to the academic success and scholarly needs of students, faculty and scholars. The Library consists of a collection of over 450,000 volumes, eighty percent of which are stored in ROVER, the first automated library storage and retrieval system installed in the state of Illinois. ROVER houses most books published prior to 1991, all bound periodicals, the Library’s Black Studies collection, media, and archival collections. Electronic resources include books and electrontric reference works and over 150 databases providing access to thousands of journal and newspaper articles. The Gwendolyn Brooks Library collections also include microform, audiovisual materials, and streaming resources. Access to materials beyond the scope of the Library’s collection is provided through I-Share, a statewide online resource sharing network of over 90 libraries. All CSU students, faculty and staff may use the resources from all participating libraries.

Reference Services

Library faculty are available to assist and instruct on all facets of information and document retrieval and use of library resources. Reference services are available in person, via chat, via telephone,via text, and via email.

Reference Collection

This non-circulation collection currently contains 15,000 volumes that include bibliographies, biographical sources, atlases, almanacs, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and much more. In addition to the print reference collection, the Library subscribes to over 150 electronic databases providing access to a diverse array of journal literature. The Library also provides electronic access to hundreds of traditional print reference titles.

Information Mall

Located directly adjacent to the Reference Desk, the information mall is a small computing lab directed to research. The information mall has 36 computing terminals. User priority is given to students conducting research and using library database/resources.

Library Instruction Lab (GBL 210)

Working as partners with teaching faculty, reference librarians conduct library instruction sessions in all academic disciplines. Each semester, the unit offers an information literacy program as part of a general education course to all freshman English Composition classes, as well as a similar program to College of Pharmacy students. Library instruction classes acquaint our students with the research process and provide them with enhanced information literacy skills. All library instruction sessions are held in the instruction lab, which is equipped with state-of-the-art learning technologies.

Education Resource Center (ERC)

Located on the Library’s third floor contains a specialized collection of 48,000 volumes to support teacher preparation programs and works closely with the College of Education. It houses children’s and young adults’ literatures, textbooks, and other curriculum materials, including electronic resources and other media for pre-K through 12th-grade education.

Government Documents

The Gwendolyn Brooks Library is a selective US federal documents repository, which focuses on government information relating to the teaching and research interests of the university. 

Music & Performing Arts Collection

The Music & Arts Collection provides a variety of resources and materials for research, study and classroom projects, which includes books, scores, and over 3000 recordings, mostly in audio CD format. Electronic resources include a music database

(International Index to Music Periodicals) for journal access and three streaming music listening services: Naxos Music Library, Naxos Jazz, and African-American Song. The collection also has theater and dance resources.

University Archives, Records Management, and Special Collections

The University Archives serves as the official memory of the Chicago State University community and is charged with preserving historical materials from the University’s past and present. Our special collections are focused primarily on African American history, literature and politics; Chicago neighborhood history; and the history of education. Collections include:

• Gwendolyn Brooks Black Writers’ Conference Audiovisual Collection: This collection documents over 20 years of one of the earliest conferences of its kind and includes rare footage of poets, writers, scholars, creatives, and enthusiasts of Black culture. Founded in 1991, the conference was an annual pilgrimage to honor the enduring legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks, noted poet the first Black person to ever win the Pulitzer Prize who served as the Illinois Poet Laureate for over 30 years as well as Distinguished Professor of English at CSU. The conference is the product of CSU’s Gwendolyn Brooks Center (GBC) for Black Literature and Creative Writing, founded in 1990, which was the first center at an academic institution to focus solely on researching, teaching, and disseminating information about acclaimed Black literary tradition. Many centers that now focus on this, modeled after the GBC, including establishing other Black Writers Conferences. After an over 8-year hiatus, the conference was reestablished in 2018 as a biannual event that continues to explore of Black literature in the worlds of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
• Lerone Bennett, Jr. Papers: This collection includes correspondence, memos, photographs, artifacts and ephemera that documents the work of noted journalist, author, social historian, and scholar Lerone Bennett, Jr., with a specific focus on his extensive career at Johnson Publishing Company as Executive Editor of Ebony Magazine.
• The Provident Hospital Collection documents the history of the first African American privately-owned hospital in the nation. 
• Maxwell Street Photographic Collection: A growing photograph collection that reflects the history of the thriving market street on Chicago’s West Side.
• The Illinois Leadership Collection features the papers of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus and several of its members who served in the Illinois General Assembly.
• Thomas H. Wirth Collection of 18th and 19th century African-Americana. Included are rare first editions by authors like Phillis Wheatley, John Marrant, David Walker, Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, Henry O. Flipper, and Sojourner Truth.
• R. Eugene and Alzata C. Pincham Collection: R. Eugene Pincham was a pioneering African American civil rights attorney, judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Justice of the Appellate Court of Illinois, and ardent critic of the U.S. criminal justice system. The papers and writing include transcripts of Pincham’s trials during his time as an Illinois attorney and preserved scrapbooks with over 50 years of career accomplishments.