The Books and Media Search contains books, videos, and sound recordings at UMBC.
AOK Article Search contains millions of articles on a variety of topics. It's a good place to start your research. Prefer Advanced Search?
The A-Z Journal List contains our journals, magazines, newspapers, and other periodicals.
May 28 - August 27, 2019
Monday - Thursday: 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday: CLOSED
Sunday: 12:00 Noon - 8:00 p.m.
Exceptions:
Wednesday, July 3: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Thursday, July 4: (Independence Day): CLOSED
Friday, July 5: CLOSED
Sunday, August 18 CLOSED
Monday, August 19: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, August 20: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Wednesday, August 21: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 22: CLOSED
Saturday, August 24: 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Monday, August 26: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, August 27: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Atrium and Retriever Learning Center: always open. RLC access is by valid UMBC ID card swipe only.
Choose one or more to find the right space for you:
Group Study Rooms
These 16 rooms are available to any UMBC faculty, students, or staff. You can reserve one ahead up to five days in advance. Reservations are limited to 3 hours per person or group each day. Book yours today!
Group Study, Conversation Allowed, Whiteboards, Computers, Reservable
Individual Study Rooms
These 6 rooms are available to any UMBC faculty, students, or staff. You can reserve one ahead up to five days in advance. Reservations are limited to 3 hours per person each day. Book yours today!
Individual Study, Conversation Allowed, Quiet, Reservable
Retriever Learning Center (RLC)
The RLC is UMBC's best place for lively group study, scholarly discussion, collaboration, and academic coaching. This room features comfortable, mobile furniture so that students can design their own study spaces. Movable white boards and large monitors allow for collaboration.
Group Study, Conversation Allowed, Whiteboards, 24-hour, Computers, Individual Study
Richard Roberts Seminar Room (140)
This room in the RLC is available to UMBC students, faculty, and staff. It contains a small conference table, large-screen monitor, and a projector with cables to connect to your laptop. Reserve the seminar room for your group for periods up to 2 hours.
Group Study, Conversation Allowed, Reservable, 24-hour, Whiteboards, Presentation Space
Lactation Room (755)
The Library is pleased to offer a Lactation Room for its users who need a private space to express breast milk. The room includes a table, two chairs, an outlet and power strip, and sanitizing wipes. It is located close to the restrooms on the 7th floor. It may be reserved for up to one hour, up to 5 days in advance. A key is also available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Check Out Desk on the Library's first floor. Reserve the Lactation Room for periods up to 1 hour.
Reservable, Quiet, Individual Study, Specialty
Open Study Rooms
These 12 rooms are left open for students to use on a first-come, first-served basis. Each room has four seats. Room numbers are listed here.
Individual Study, Conversation Allowed
Presentation Practice Room (257)
This room has been set up for students to practice giving presentations, speeches, etc. Bring your flash drive to plug into our one-button recording system - when you're finished, you'll have a recording of your presentation to critique. Reserve the Presentation Practice Room. Reservations are not required but do take precedence over walk-up appointments. You can check out the key at the Check Out desk.
| Availability: | Presentation Practice Room |
Presentation Space, Conversation Allowed, Group Study, Individual Study, Reservable
Digital Media Lab (DML)
The Digital Media Lab is open to all UMBC students, faculty, and staff and contains a Whisper Room, an Audio/Video Recording Room, and computer workspaces with editing software. Book time in the Whisper Room or Audio/Video Recording Room here. For information on hours and available equipment, please visit the DML homepage.
Creation Space, Computers, Reservable, Group Study, Individual Study, Conversation Allowed
Screening Room (258)
Our Screening Room is designed for groups to view films. It features a Blu-ray/DVD player, Windows computer, HD Plasma TV, and VHS player. A minimum of 3 people is required to use the room. Reserve the Screening Room. Reservations are not required but do take precedence over walk-up appointments. You can check out the key at the Check Out desk.
Reservable, Conversation Allowed, Presentation Space
These 32 rooms are available to UMBC faculty, as well as visiting and Emeritus faculty. They are assigned each semester; to apply for a room, please fill out an application form.
Individual Study, Quiet, Reservable
Assistive Technology Rooms
Ask at the Check Out desk to access Rooms 121, 122, or 455. They are equipped with Jaws screenreader software, magnifiers, and scanners. Learn more about assistive technology facilities.
Individual Study, Computers
Floors 1, 2, and 7
The first, second, and seventh floors of the AOK Library have 160 computers (both Macs and PCs) for student use, as well as printers, scanners, and photocopiers.
Individual Study, Group Study, Computers, Conversation Allowed
Floors 3 and 4
The third and fourth floors of the AOK Library are designated Quiet areas, so please keep volume to a whisper. These floors have 22 computers (PCs) for student use.
Quiet, Individual Study, Computers
Floors 5 and 6
The fifth and sixth floors of the AOK Library are designated Absolute Quiet areas at all times. These floors have 32 computers (PCs) for student use.
Individual Study, Absolute Quiet, Computers
2nd Floor Study Area
Head up to the 2nd floor and take a left at the Serials sign - there you'll find a group study space featuring whiteboards, big tables, and large monitors with cables to connect to your laptop.
Group Study, Whiteboards, Conversation Allowed
Atrium
The entry hall of the library is a vibrant social and conversation space. It is open 24 hours a day.
Individual Study, Group Study, 24-hour, Conversation Allowed
Daily Lockers
Daily lockers are available to UMBC students, faculty, and staff for a 24 hour period. Daily locker keys are checked out at the Check Out Desk. For more information, please visit the Locker page.
Semester Lockers
Semester lockers are a great place for UMBC students, faculty, and staff to store their study materials. They are assigned each Fall and Spring semester; to apply for a locker, please fill out an application form. For more information, please visit the Locker page.
Reservable
Simmons Collaboration Room (368)
This room is available to UMBC students, faculty, and staff. It contains a small conference table and a smart TV with Chromecast, which allows a laptop, tablet or smartphone to stream content to the screen. Reserve this room for your group of 3-7 people for periods up to 3 hours. You can find instructions for how to use Chromecast here (Note: the Chromecast device is already connected to the Simmons room screen).
Presentation Space, Conversation Allowed, Group Study, Reservable
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Did you know that the Library loans laptops and a variety of audio and video equipment? Laptops are available at the Check Out Desk. For everything else, head up to the Digital Media Lab (DML) on the 2nd floor - all equipment is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Software loaded on the laptops is listed here. Full descriptions of the available equipment and instruction manuals are available on the DML homepage. Please take a moment to read the Equipment Loan Policies and Laptop Loan Policies pages for detailed information about the program.
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Dell LATITUDE E6440 Laptop | 10 available |
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MacBook Pro 13" Laptop | 10 available |
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Canon Rebel T3i DSLR Camera | 8 available |
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Canon Rebel T5i DSLR Camera | 8 available |
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Nikon D3000 Digital Camera | 5 available |
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Canon VIXIA HD Camcorder | 5 available |
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GoPro HERO4 Silver | 2 available |
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Manfrotto MKC3-H01 Tripod | 3 available |
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Revo SR-1000 Shoulder Mount | 2 available |
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JOBY GripTight Phone Mount | 3 available |
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ZOOM H4n Recorder | 2 available |
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Sony ECM-44B Lavalier Microphone | 5 available |
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Polsen Wireless Microphone System | 8 available |
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EXtra SanDisk Ultra 32GB SD Card | 5 available |
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Samsung Portable DVD Player/Writer | 5 available |
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Aaxa P300 Pico Projectors | 2 available |
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Tascam DR-10L Audio Recorder with Lavalier Mic | 2 available |
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Movo PM10 Lavalier Clip-on Microphone | 2 available |
Other events scheduled in the Library can be found on the full Events page.
Sorry, no upcoming events
This Veteran’s Day marked the one hundred year anniversary of the armistice signed between Allied and Central Powers of World War I at Compiègne, France to end fighting on the Western front. The conflict resulted in an unprecedented level of death and destruction as the products of industrialization–airplanes, tanks, submarines, machine guns, and poison gas–were deployed as modern machines of war. Alongside these new technologies photography played a more central role than ever before in documenting the war. The Photography Collections at UMBC include a large group of photographs from World War I that were distributed as press images by the news bureau Underwood and Underwood. Documenting every aspect of the conflict, from training drills to life in the trenches, from explosions on the front to the burial of fallen soldiers, this archive provides valuable historical evidence, and demonstrates how photography brought the realities of the battlefield into people’s homes.
Whereas photography had been present at conflicts during the nineteenth century, including the Mexican-American War, Crimean War, U. S. Civil War, and Paris Commune, slow exposure times and cumbersome equipment meant that the action of battle evaded capture by the camera. Instead, portraits of soldiers and views of the aftermath of battlefields stood in for the events of combat. Due to the high cost of photographic printing, the images that circulated in newspapers and magazines hewed to traditional methods of illustration, and artists translated photographs into woodcuts or lithographs that could be more easily reproduced. With the development of halftone printing in 1881 and later advancements in film speed and more portable cameras, the action of battle was captured in photographs for the first time during World War I and distributed quickly on a global scale through news agencies and the press.
Soldiers carried small and easy-to-use Kodak brownie and vest pocket cameras with them to the front, sending home pictures that documented an individual experience of the war. Meanwhile, armies employed staff photographers who provided documentation for military use. For example, the American photographer Edward Steichen served as chief of the Photographic Section of the American Expeditionary Forces and produced aerial photographs of the Western Front from a birds’ eye view. His photographs served as reconnaissance for strategic positioning and tracked German movements. Most nations did not allow press photographers embedded on the battlefield, so the photographs disseminated through news media came directly from the military. Many of the photographs distributed by Underwood and Underwood bear stamps indicating the date that they passed review by government censors. Published images were also accompanied by explanatory captions, which can also be found on the verso of many of the photographs in UMBC’s collection. The information received by readers back home was thus shaped by the military’s official point of view along with that of the news source.
The World War I photographs in UMBC’s Special Collections encompass a wide variety of subjects, including scenes from the trenches and more light-hearted moments of camaraderie among troops. While many of the images are visually striking, their ability to convey clear information about the events of the war often rests on the text that accompanies them. It can be difficult to tell the difference, for example, between a training maneuver and the heat of battle. What do we make of a portrait of a man wearing a strange knitted balaclava or a glamorous woman in nurse’s uniform holding up a sash covered in military insignia? In the case of the former, the caption informs us that this man is a sailor wearing woolens knitted by women volunteers from throughout the United States, who supplied their own yarn and their time to the war effort. In the latter image, Detroit society girl and New York concert singer Marjorie Kay displays the 154 decorations that she collected while serving as a nurse in the U. S. Army Ambulance Corps. The stories told by these photographs—and about the “war to end all wars”—are manifold.
-- Beth Saunders, Curator and Head of Special Collections & Library Gallery
To view these World War I photographs and others from the Underwood and Underwood archive in person, stop by the Special Collections Reading Room in the Albin O. Kuhn Library, open Monday to Friday 1:00-4:00pm and Thursday 1:00-8:00pm.
Did you know that you can read major newspapers for free online using the Library's databases?
Keep informed by bookmarking or using a feed-reader app (like Feedly) to access:
We’ve got the paper versions too! Head up to the 2nd floor for current newspapers such as: the Baltimore Sun, the Guardian, Le Monde, the New York Times, The Times (London), the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
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