The Benjamin Rosenthal Library houses all collections and services of the Queens College library with the exception of music materials, which are located in the Music Library in the Aaron Copland School of Music building. The print collection is over 780,000 volumes with annual additions through purchase and gifts of about 10,000 volumes. The library subscribes to approximately 2700 print subscription and has online access to over 20,000 journal and periodical titles. The library also has a large (916,000 unit) microform collection. The library houses the College Archives and the separately administered Louis Armstrong Archives.
The Queens College Library serves the students and faculty of Queens College and the CUNY community. As a selective U.S. Government Publications Depository, it is open to the general public upon a presentation of a photo ID. Any donor to the library development fund of $50 or more and current members of the QC Alumni Association can have borrowing privileges.
The library staff consists of 20 library faculty and 24 full time clerical and information services support personnel. They are assisted by many part time employees working in a variety of information assistant, collection management, and technical support positions. Library faculty provide individual reference and research assistance to students and faculty, teach classes, select the materials or the print and electronic collections, develop the library's website, prepare exhibits, and work with academic department faculty on collection and instructional support. Other library staff work at public service desks, provide collection acquisition, cataloging, and maintenance support, computer and network support.
The QC Library serves the college community by providing and promoting access to all forms of information to support research, study, teaching and the general pursuit of knowledge and through instruction in developing research skills, critical evaluation of sources, and appropriate search and retrieval skills to form the basis of post-graduate careers and education.
Library faculty takes an active role in assisting students and faculty in learning how to use print and electronic information resources to support their educational and career needs. Librarians are active teachers of research skills and also provide instruction in the use of new technologies to access information. Librarians and teaching faculty are partners in the development of an information literate campus community.
The library collects, indexes, preserves, and makes accessible information in a variety of formats in anticipation of user information needs and provides means of access to information located off-campus and in cyberspace in an on demand mode. The library preserves the College history by professionally managing the College archives.
The library's online catalog and its homepage serve as primary pathway to content information in print, electronic, and other formats. Library faculty and staff create and maintain these tools to facilitate physical and online access to research resources within and beyond the library.
Library faculty and staff add value to the collections and physical library space through service policies and standards that ensure efficient access to collections, promote their use, protect the privacy of users, protect intellectual property rights, and preserve materials for future users.
The primary community served by the library is the students, faculty, and staff of Queens College. We also serve the students and faculty of other CUNY colleges, and students and teachers affiliated with Queens College programs. As a Depository of U.S. government publications, the library is also open to the general public for consultation and on-site use of collections. Current members of the Queens College Alumni Association and Friends of the Queens College Libraries may borrow materials from the library.