The mission of the Holy Apostles College and Seminary Library is to support the academic and formation programs of our college and seminary. The Library, which is located in St. Luke’s Hall, is also committed to providing access to information resources that promote lifelong learning.
As a Catholic institution of higher education, we strive to preserve our Catholic heritage through carefully defined resource acquisition and collection development policies. The reference and circulating book collections reflect this mission. These collections contain more than 60,000 print volumes with an emphasis on theology, philosophy, bioethics, and the humanities. We retain unique materials in our established special collections and archives departments, including the Pope Francis Collection, the Pope Benedict XVI Collection, the Pope John Paul II Bioethics Collection, the Archives of the Missionaries of the Holy Apostles, and our College and Seminary Archives.
The Library subscribes to over 200 print and electronic newspapers and serial collections, as well as to specialized Catholic and theological databases and eBooks. The Library also benefits from the digital resources available through the ResearchIT CT database program of the Connecticut State Library. This unique state-funded service permits our students and faculty to access electronic resources in a variety of subject areas beyond our core collections.
Housed within the Library is a computer classroom. The Library is committed to providing the technology necessary to support the intellectual and spiritual activities of our students and faculty. Continuous upgrades of our computer classroom facility enable our students to conduct research and produce reports on-site. Our wireless networked environment allows students to utilize their own laptops and portable devices to access our library resources. The Library also provides ongoing reference services, as well as information and computer literacy programs, to our on-campus and online learning communities.
As a resource center for the Magisterial documents of the Catholic faith, the Library also recognizes its value to the surrounding communities and places great care in the cultivation of resource sharing. To support this commitment, Holy Apostles College and Seminary Library participates in several interlibrary lending programs. Through the CT Statewide Interlibrary loan service, ReQuestIT, we share resources with over 300 participating Connecticut Libraries. As members of the American Theological Library Association (ATLA), we also enjoy reciprocal borrowing privileges with member libraries.