Collections

Online Collections

Databases

Egan Library subscribes to a number of online databases, both individually for our students, as well as in collaboration with UAA and UAF, and with libraries across the state of Alaska. We are also strong supporters of Open Access materials, and are working to integrate reputable open resources along with our paid materials.

Find an alphabetical listing of Egan Library's databases online, and limit by Subject to find a variety of options for whatever you're searching.

eBooks

We now have access to more eBooks than print books through the library. You can find most of these titles in the library catalog, including browsing our new ebooks, but here are the main collections where you can find titles:

• The Ebsco eBook Collection is our largest eBook collection, search within the full text of over 200,000 multidisciplinary ebooks. Use the "save" or "print" options to save a section of the book to PDF, or read online.
• Our Springer eBook Collection consists of subject collections where you can find books on Earth and Environmental Sciences, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences, and Engineering.
• Books @ JSTOR includes books by chapter in the search results. We have purchased some books, others are open access, and the UA libraries currently have a common collection going with access to thousands of more titles.
• Gale eBooks is a growing collection of eBooks the library has directly purchased, mostly reference materials such as encyclopedias and biographies.
• Oxford Reference is a statewide collection of recent online reference texts including encyclopedias, dictionaries, and literary companions.
• Alaska Digital Library includes over 20,000 ebooks and 10,000 audiobooks, featuring popular fiction and contemporary non-fiction. Read in any web browser or computers and devices with the Libby App. Note that titles show up in the library catalog, but not when searching OneSearch. Available to many libraries statewide via library card number, including UAS ID number.

Find out more about eBooks with the Egan Library.

Streaming Video

For Egan Library and other libraries, streaming video is a new type of resource that is still being figured out. For several years we have been using Kanopy Streaming Video. If there is a specific film you would like to stream for a course, let us know. Streaming video has proven to be both popular and costly, and the library regularly reviews our options.

Online Journals

Find the titles of over 60,000 academic journals, newspapers, and magazines available through Egan Library databases, direct subscriptions, and open access, all together in our Journal Titles search.

Circulating Collections

General Collection

The largest collection in the library, the General Collection contains materials you may check out of the library in all subject areas. Library of Congress call numbers ranging from A-N are located on the Lower Level, call numbers P is on the main level, and call numbers Q-Z are housed on the Mezzanine Level. General Collection books will have the location designation "Circulating Collection" in the library catalog.

We have small collections of items available for in person browsing and Juneau-area checkout: a display table, a Featured Books shelf, and a New Books shelf.

Course Reserves

Textbooks for many courses are available in the library course reserves for 3 hour checkout periods. These items have been donated to the library or represent materials that were already in the library collection (novels, etc). Additionally, there are library subscribed ebooks used as course books. Search the library's available reserves in the library catalog.

Over the years, Egan Library has accepted donations of course texts and added some of them to its collections to provide students with alternate study materials from assigned texts. There have also been large one-time infusions of titles, such as when the bookstore closed, and with President's Initiative Funds in 2021. As textbooks go out of date quickly when new editions are published, the numbers involved would quickly deplete the library's book budget. Students are responsible for purchasing necessary course materials, including textbooks. If there are concerns about the cost of course texts, students may wish to approach a faculty member about putting a personal copy of a course textbook on library reserve for student use. The library would return the professor's copy at the end of the semester.

Videos

UAS maintains a collection of over a thousand DVDs, with some VHS and Blu-rays, located near the Reference Desk. We primarily purchase videos relating to courses offered at UAS, and also relating to Alaskan and Alaska Native issues. We also have a growing collection of feature films that have been donated to the library which we keep available for student entertainment. Find videos in the library catalog, or browse our new videos.

Cyril George Collection (est. 2016)

This special collection is named after Ḵaalḵáawu Cyril George, a Tlingit leader from the Deisheetaan Clan of Angoon, and partially funded by a Rasmuson Foundation grant. The Cyril George Collection honors Indigenous voices and Alaska Native Knowledge in a collection of over 4,000 volumes on the main floor of Egan Library. The collection began with sub-collections for Alaska Native Arts, Alaska Native Language, and Alaska Native Society. A Global Indigenous Knowledge collection had materials with more of a focus on Indigenous people of North America and the world, as well as more general language materials, and literature. All of the Indigenous literature could be found in the Global collection, including by Alaskans, so that they can all be located together for a broader collection representing Indigenous voices. There are also two material-based sub-collections, for Media and Oversize materials. The materials are currently in transition into a main Cyril George Collection, organized via a UAS-adapted version of the Brian Deer Classification System. Details on this can be found in the guide linked above.

Juvenile Collection

Egan Library's collection of juvenile literature includes children's books for all ages, in both fiction and non-fiction. These books are shelved on the Lower Level and provide support for the Alaska College of Education. Fiction items are shelved alphabetically by author, and non-fiction items are arranged according to the Dewey Decimal Classification system. When you search the catalog, these items will display as "Juvenile Fiction" or "Juvenile Non-Fiction."

Katy Spangler Children's Alaskana Collection

This special collection includes Alaska-related books for children and young adults. Much of the collection has been donated by Alaska College of Education Professor Emerita Katy Spangler. This collection is also shelved on the Lower Level, adjacent to the juvenile collection. The collection is divided into "Katy Spangler Children's Alaskana Fiction" and "Katy Spangler Children's Alaskana Non-Fiction." You can browse the collection in the library catalog, or you can find the items in the same search with the other juvenile items, or when searching the library catalog as a whole.

Forestry Sciences Collection (1850-2004)

In 2005, Egan Library received the contents of the U.S. Forest Service's Juneau Forestry Sciences Laboratory Library. This collection includes over 18,000 titles including journals, books, and government reports. Subjects covered in addition to forestry include fisheries, wildlife, insects, geology, soils, water, recreation, and archaeology. The geographical emphasis is on Alaska, Canada, and other high latitudes. Most of these materials were integrated into the other Egan Library collections. Items from this collection are marked with a green label and can be found particularly in the Library of Congress call number range "SD," denoting Forestry. They can also be found via a limited search in the library catalog.

Forestry Sciences Archive

An additional portion of the collection is the Forestry Sciences Archive which consists of article photocopies and reprints, conference papers, pamphlets, and reports, most of which were published before 1980. This is held in the Egan Storage and Archives room. Items are available for in-library use. Please contact the reference desk for more information about the Forestry Sciences Archive, and look below for more details on access the library's archives.

Government Documents

“This library is a congressionally designated depository for U.S. Government documents. Public access to the government documents collection is guaranteed by public law. (Title 44 United States Code)”

Egan Library is one of seven Alaskan libraries participating in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) as selective depositories. These federal publications are integrated into the General Collection and can be found by searching the library catalog. The State of Alaska is also served by the Regional Depository at the Washington State Library.

Major federal documents can be found online on govinfo.gov, and a search for all federal documents can be found in the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP). The Egan Library Reference Desk provides assistance with locating government information, or check our related research guide. The Alaska State Library also has resources for federal and state documents.

Donor Collections

The Egan Library has searchable collections of collections available thanks to library donors. To find out more about these collections, or to consider giving to the library yourself, please see our Give to the Egan Library page.

In-Library-Use Collections

Periodicals

Egan Library keeps current issues from over 150 periodicals between our Periodicals section, Newspapers, and our circulating Featured Magazines, all on the main level of the library. A complete list by subject and title is available. We keep an archive of over 200 titles in our Bound Periodicals, with commonly accessed titles on the Lower Level and the remained in onsite Storage. Ask staff for assistance to access Storage materials. In addition, Egan Library provides access to over 60,000 periodicals online, information above.

Reference Collection

The Reference Collection contains directories, indexes, dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographical collections, and other types of books for looking up quick information. This collection is non-circulating and is located to the left of the Reference Desk.

Map Collection

The Egan Library maintains a non-circulating collection of maps and atlases. This collection includes complete sets of the National Ocean Services coast survey nautical charts for Alaska, and of the USGS topographical series maps of Alaska in the scale of 1:63,360. The collection also includes USGS topographical maps of Alaska in scales of 1:25,000, 1:50,000 and 1:250,000; U.S. and Canadian road maps; and a variety of miscellaneous thematic maps that include charts of the moon.

Historical Index Collection

The Library maintains a collection of print indexes to periodical literature covering the period before the 1990s when online indexes became common. These indexes are useful to researchers seeking articles and other documents from the 1980s and earlier. For example, the library has the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature for the years 1900-1983. There are many more specialized indexes in this collection pertaining to specific disciplines (Social Science Index, Humanities Index, etc.). The Historical Index Collection is located in our on-site Storage location. Ask staff for assistance to access these materials.

Archives

ScholarWorks@UA

Scholarworks@UA is the University of Alaska's institutional repository created to share research and works by UA faculty, students, and staff. University of Alaska Southeast collections include university publications such as the Whalesong and Tidal Echoes, and student work such as masters theses.

Alaska's Digital Archives

Egan Library contributed rare and unique Alaska Native Language readers from our print collection to the digital archive created by the Alaska State Library Historical Collections. This project is part of Alaska's Digital Archives, a statewide cooperative effort to capture and display historical materials from Alaskan libraries, archives, and museums. Egan Library is an Alaska's Digital Archives member.

Lingit, Haida, Tsimshian Language Materials

Increasing Access to Lingit, Haida, Tsimshian Language Materials through Digitization. The UAS Alaska Native Arts, Languages & Studies Program requires unique texts, audio recordings and curricular resources to support student engagement with language revitalization through learning, documentation, and community activities. Supported by a 2021 University of Alaska Faculty Initiative Fund award, Egan Library acquired an archival quality book scanner and digitized six fragile, rare and/or out of copyright, curricular resources. 

Campus Drawing Archive

Egan Library has collaborated with UAS Facilities Planning and Construction to create a database of campus architectural drawings. The database is publically searchable, but access to the drawing image files is limited to on-campus users.

Library Archives

The Egan Library has a small physical archives collection, consisting of rare books and backup copies of Alaska-related and UAS-related materials. Archives materials are intended for controlled access and in-library use; please see our Archives Access Policy for complete details and to apply for admission.

Questions and Requests

Questions about accessing the library's collections can be directed to the Reference desk, and for detailed questions, contact Technical Services Librarian David Cox.

The library regularly solicits recommendations from the faculty via the departmental liaisons. UA affiliates including students and staff are encouraged to also place purchase requests via the purchase request form.