Pittsburgh Area Libraries

Directories

• Access Pennsylvania
  The Access Pennsylvania Database is a project of the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Office of Commonwealth Libraries. It was started in 1985 as a way to provide a union catalog across the State of Pennsylvania. It was the first and remains the largest statewide union catalog that includes the holdings of all types of libraries.
  • Libraries by County
    Click on Allegheny County to search the holdings of academic, public, school, and special libraries in Allegheny County.

Academic Libraries

• Carlow College Grace Library
  The library offers over 101,300 volumes with particular strengths in early childhood education, theology, literature and women’s studies. Special collections include those in Peace Studies, African American Studies and Career Resources.
  • Online Catalog
• Carnegie Mellon University Libraries
  
• Chatham College Jenny King Mellon Library
  In addition to the main collection the library also houses the college's Archives and a unique special collection of African American monographs and Mesoamerican titles.
  • Search the Library Catalog
• Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) Library System
  Each of the four campuses (Allegheny, Boyce, North, and South) has its own library.
  • ALLEYCAT Online Catalog
• Duquesne University Gumberg Library
  • Digital Collections
• LaRoche College: John J. Wright Library
  
  • Online Catalog
• Penn State Library System
  The Beaver, McKeesport, and New Kensington campuses use the central online catalog.
  • The Cat (online catalog)
• Pittsburgh Theological Seminary: Clifford E. Barbour Library
  With over 330,000 resources, the Library houses the combined collections of several theological schools in the Pittsburgh area dating back to 1794.
  • Calvin Online Catalog
• Point Park University Library
  • PointCat Online Catalog
• Robert Morris University: Library
  • Online Catalog
• University of Pittsburgh Library System
  The main undergraduate library is Hillman which is focused primarily on the humanities and the social sciences and contains approximately 1.5 million volumes, over 200 devices for computing, and study capacity for 1500 users. It also includes the African American Collection, Buhl Social Work Collection, East Asian Library, and Eduardo Lozano Latin American Collection.
  • PittCat (online catalog)
  • PittCat Plus (acquabrowser)
  • Health Sciences Library System
    supports the Schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine, Pharmacy, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Nursing, and Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh and the UPMC Health System.
  • Barco Law Library
    Includes links to legal resources, both local and national.

Public Libraries

• Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
  Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (CLP), founded in 1895, offers library services from 18 neighborhood library locations, the Main Library in Oakland and the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Its holdings are available through the eiNetwork county-wide online catalog.
• The Electronic Information Network (EIN) of Allegheny County
  Uniting the public libraries of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
  • Online Catalog
  • eiNetwork Member Libraries

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Special Libraries

• Allegheny County Law Library
  (Duquesne University Center for Legal Information)
  Providing legal information and information services to the bench and bar of the County, County departments, other members of the legal community, and members of the general public. Now located at Duquesne University Law School.
• Carnegie Museum of Natural History Library
  The Library of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History is a collection of approximately 132,000 volumes. The collection is particularly strong in scientific periodicals and has long runs of European journals dating to the nineteenth century. Included in the 32,000 titles in the Library are 5,400 periodical titles, of which 1,500 are currently received. The Library's strengths reflect the scientific sections of the Museum, which are Anthropology, Amphibians and Reptiles, Birds, Botany, Invertebrate Paleontology, Invertebrate Zoology, Mammals, Minerals and Vertebrate Paleontology. The Library's holdings are searchable through the eiNetwork Online Catalog.
• Heinz History Center Library & Archives
  The Library and Archives of the Heinz History Center (Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania) offers a non-circulating collection of materials documenting life in Western Pennsylvania. The Reading Room and collections are located at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, 1212 Smallman Street, Pittsburgh, Pa 15222.
  • Library Catalog
• Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation: James D. Van Trump Library
  The James D. Van Trump Library houses books, manuscripts, periodicals, maps, etc. relating to Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
• Western Pennsylvania Family Center: Educational Resource Center Library
  The Educational Resource Center Library provides materials and a place for study and research about the family and other natural systems and family therapy.
• Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society
  The Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society library is a non-circulating collection of materials made available to its members, and the general public, to aid in the research of general genealogy as well as specifically Western Pennsylvania ancestors. The WPGS allows searching of its holdings online. The collection is located in the Pennsylvania Department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

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Southwestern Pennsylvania

• Beaver County Library System
  Founded in 1971, The Beaver County Library System consists of 11 public libraries and a Bookmobile offering books, audio/visual media, programs, activities and services to county residents and visitors.
  • Search the Catalog
• Butler County Federated Library System
  Including Butler Area, Cranberry, Evans City, Mars Area, Prospect Area, Saxonburg Area, and Zelienople Area Public Libraries, and Butler County Bookmobile.
• Washington County Library System
  Includes links to the 14 participating libraries.
• Westmoreland Library Network
  A network of 24 public libraries in Westmoreland County, east of Allegheny County

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Pennsylvania

• Commonwealth Libraries
  Includes information about the State Library of Pennsylvania, access to the State Library Catalog, information on the Bureau of Library Development including Gates Foundation Grants for PA Public Libraries, a list of Pennsylvania Libraries on the Web, access to the Access PA POWER Library of online databases, and the AccessPA database of the holdings of Pennsylvania libraries.
  • Public Libraries in Pennsylvania
  • Academic Libraries
• Commonwealth Libraries POWER Library Information Center
  Pennsylvania Department of Education, Library services.
  • Access POWER Library Login Site for Allegheny County
• Free Library of Philadelphia
  The other major urban library in Pennsylvania.

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Library Organizations

• Allegheny County Library Association (ACLA)
  Public libraries in Allegheny County
• Pennsylvania Library Organization (PaLA)
• American Library Association (ALA)
• Public Library Association (PLA)
• Urban Libraries Council
  An alliance of more than 180 premier public libraries and corporations, including the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Last updated Thursday December 15 2011.