Libraries
The UVA Library has seven facilities and also shares its catalog with the Darden, Health Sciences, and Law libraries. In addition to extensive collections and varied spaces for research and study, the Library offers knowledgeable and dedicated staff, digital resources, specialized labs, and other services to help faculty in their academic work.
UVA's main library building, Shannon Library, underwent a major renovation from 2020-2024, and reopened in January 2024. Useful information can be found on the renovation FAQ page.
The Faculty Services page on the Library site provides a conveniently organized overview of Library services commonly used by faculty. It also links to the Library’s orientation guide for new faculty. Services include:
- Virgo, the Library’s catalog;
- LEO delivery service delivers physical or scanned library material;
- Research Data Services (RDS) helps researchers find, manage, curate, visualize, and analyze data through their librarians and data science consultants
- Libra is the University's Open Access scholarly repository;
- The Robertson Media Center has a team of knowledgeable media professionals available for classroom instruction and consultation on projects involving media and technologies;
- The Scholars' Lab is the Library's community lab for the practice of experimental scholarship in all fields, informed by digital humanities, spatial technologies, and cultural heritage thinking;
- The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) is a digital scholarship unit that works with scholars and researchers from all fields to explore and develop humanities computing tools, methods, and technologies;
- Liaison librarians link faculty and students to the Library, and work to enhance their research experience. Each academic department and many interdisciplinary programs have an assigned liaison to provide research support;
- Teaching and Learning librarians provide research instruction and orientations for students;
- The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library holds more than 17 million objects and offers many instructional opportunities, including class visits to view materials selected by faculty or staff;
- Aperio is the University’s open access press;
- Projects and grants to support faculty research and teaching such as Course Enrichment Grants, Research Sprints, and Affordability and Equity Grants.