Some of the main things that are unique to academic libraries are:
- Size - academic libraries can be huge. Newman Library has five floors that are open to the public, and holds over 1 million volumes.
- Call numbers - academic libraries use the Library of Congress Call Number system, rather than Dewey. Literature (fiction, poetry and drama) will not be shelved alphabetically by the author's last name.
- Holdings - academic libraries do carry some popular materials, but their main focus is on helping students and faculty with research. The majority of an academic library's "stuff" will be academically oriented.
- Online materials - academic libraries spend millions of dollars every year for subscriptions to databases containing everything from videos to newspaper articles to peer-reviewed materials. The libraries pay for the subscriptions so you, the user, don't have to pay for individual articles.
