Ivy Library is a unique branch in the UVA Library system. Ivy Library is a high-density, climate-controlled facility that holds over 3 million items from the UVA Library system. Instead of browsable shelves, Ivy Library collections are held on 30-foot-high bay electronic mobile shelving system requiring trained and licensed staff to retrieve materials.
In a single building, Ivy Library houses collections belonging to libraries throughout the UVA Library system, including UVA Library, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collection Library, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, UVA Law Library, Darden Camp Library, and the JAG School Library.
Guiding principles
Maintenance and stewardship
Ivy Library maintains and ensures the safekeeping of library collections so they can be used for research and instruction.
Access, inclusion, and diversity
Ivy Library ensures that our collections are accessible to UVA Library system users. We strive to maintain a collection that reflects the diversity of the UVA and Charlottesville communities.
Collaboration
Ivy Library is an inherently collaborative service, as we hold materials from multiple library locations. We strive to work alongside the UVA, Charlottesville, and Virginia communities to understand the research and instruction needs of Library users.
Transparency
We work to clearly communicate policies and procedures to the Library system and UVA community.
How to request materials from Ivy Library
While the stacks themselves are only accessible to trained Library staff, the circulating materials held at Ivy Library are searchable in Virgo, the Library’s catalog. These collections are requestable and made available quickly and reliably to UVA Library system users. Requests for journal articles are generally scanned and delivered electronically.
Learn how to request an item through Virgo.
Collections held in Ivy Library
Most of the items in Ivy Library circulate freely and are easily requestable through Virgo, the Library’s online catalog. Some restricted materials, like archival and special collections, will require staff assistance from the relevant library’s Special Collections department. Items are stored in a variety of archival boxes and trays, depending on the material type.
Materials eligible for consideration for transfer into Ivy Library include:
- Monographs, including out-of-date materials and those duplicated electronically in the Library’s holdings
- Bound journals and periodicals, including both titles the Library no longer subscribes to as well as titles that have an active subscription
- CDs, DVDs, Laserdiscs, and vinyl records
- Microforms
- Maps
- Government Documents
- Oversize materials that can be stored flat on Ivy Library shelving
- Library materials that require a controlled climate for preservation reasons
- Limited special collections and archival materials managed by a special collections library
Decisions about which items and collections are held in Ivy Library are made by the Ivy Library and UVA Library Collections teams.
Items and collections excluded from Ivy Library
Ivy Library holds collections from libraries throughout the UVA Library system. It does not hold materials from other organizations or entities.
The shelving system at Ivy Library is designed to hold library and archival materials, and staff are trained to safely shelve, retrieve, and process library materials. For this reason, Ivy Library does not hold:
- Art work
- Furniture
- Time capsules
- Other objects
- Any materials that are unable to be stored in our standard sized archival boxes and trays
As a collaborative service of the UVA Library system, Ivy Library only holds items belonging to UVA Library, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collection Library, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, UVA Law Library, Darden Camp Library, and the JAG School Library. Ivy Library’s holdings are either circulatable and requestable through Virgo, or special collections/archival materials that can be viewed and researched with the assistance of special collections library staff.
Support of print retention agreements
Ivy Library supports UVA Library’s participation in several shared print and print retention agreements by providing space for lesser used collections and materials to be maintained and accessible. As a participant in these programs, UVA Library has agreed to keep and maintain a variety of resources to be used by our community as well as scholars from other participating institutions.
UVA Library current participates in the following shared print programs:
- HathiTrust Shared Print Program
- Eastern Academic Scholars’ Trust
- ASERL-CRL Scholars Trust Retention Project
- South Asian Cooperative Collection Development Print Retention Initiative
Contact information
Phone: 434-924-0982
Email: lib-ivy@virginia.edu