The academic programs of the Newark campus are supported by the John Cotton Dana Library and by the print and electronic resources provided by the Rutgers University library system. The Dana Library, which is located in the center of the campus plaza, has a collection of nearly 700,000 volumes. This figure includes approximately 337,197 books, 122,819 bound periodicals, and 239,597 federal and state publications. The library, which also has 841,448 pieces of microform and 17,047 audiovisual items, subscribes to more than 3,038 periodicals.

The library`s regular hours during the fall and spring terms are Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to midnight; Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 10:00 p.m.

Changes in these hours are announced in the Observer (the student newspaper) and are posted in the library and elsewhere on campus. Dana Library's Media Services unit is housed in a modern media complex that has a growing collection of videotapes, audio recordings, cassettes, and other nonprint materials. The Media and Digital Services complex, which is adjacent to the Institute of Jazz Studies on the library's fourth floor, includes media/group study rooms, booths, and carrels; a multipurpose room for film and video viewing; computer presentations; and an exhibition gallery. There is a new media retrieval system that distributes audio and video information throughout the space. Available technologies enable students to create and edit streaming video from analog sources, create digitized audio, and scan images.

Through the Rutgers University Libraries' online information system, the Dana Library provides access to a wide variety of databases and full-text electronic journals and other resources. The Dana librarians meet with classes in a state-of-the-art electronic/multimedia classroom to provide instruction in the use of the new information technologies and in library research strategies. These librarians also provide assistance to students on a one-to-one basis in the use of appropriate bibliographic tools and information services. For a fee, the library provides computer-assisted bibliographic search services.

Other libraries on the Newark campus include the Criminal Justice/NCCD Collection, a branch of the Dana Library located at 15 Washington Street, and the School of Law Library, which is located in the new Center for Law and Justice building.

The Institute of Jazz Studies, a branch of the Dana Library that is located within the Dana facility, houses collections of more than 149,036 recordings in all formats; 8,238 books on jazz and related subjects; a comprehensive collection of jazz periodicals, photographs, sheet music, and big band arrangements; and memorabilia.

Newark students and faculty members have direct borrowing privileges at all Rutgers University Libraries on the Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick campuses. (See the Divisions of the University chapter for a complete list of university libraries.) The total holdings of the Rutgers libraries include nearly 3.3 million volumes, more than 4.3 million microform units, and 22,686 current serial subscriptions.

Information about the holdings of library materials in all of the Rutgers libraries is available in IRIS, the libraries' online catalog. Rutgers also is a member of several local, regional, and national resource-sharing networks, such as the Research Libraries Group, INFOLINK, the Eastern New Jersey Regional Library Cooperative, and the New York Metropolitan Reference and Research Library Agency. Upon request, Dana will obtain a loan or photocopy of items held by other libraries, both within and outside Rutgers.

The Rutgers University Libraries web page provides links to the catalogs of library holdings of neighboring institutions, such as the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the Newark Public Library. Upon presentation of a valid Rutgers identification card, students and faculty members have borrowing privileges at these three libraries, as well as at the library of Essex County College. Other available library facilities in Newark include libraries at the Newark Museum and the New Jersey Historical Society. Requests for borrowing privileges at the Newark Public Library should be directed to Dana`s circulation department.