Printed Books, Pamphlets, State Documents, and Periodicals
--25,000+ Volumes
Dating
from the eighteenth century to the present, these publications cover a
broad range of knowledge, including works in the humanities, social
sciences, and sciences. Housed in the collection's reading room, these
materials are arranged in three distinct areas. The Reference
Collection includes such legal titles as the North Carolina General
Statutes, reports of the North Carolina Supreme Court and the North
Carolina Court of Appeals, West's North Carolina Digest, Strong's
Index, North Carolina School Law, and treatises on the law. Patrons
interested in population and labor statistics will find publications of
the U.S. Bureau of the Census and the Employment Security Commission of
North Carolina, among other sources. A variety of directories provide
information about cities, businesses, manufacturing firms, and
educational institutions. A growing collection of printed abstracts of
state records and those of counties in Eastern North Carolina assists
historians and genealogists with their research. The Stacks contain
books that circulate as well as bound periodicals and many state
documents. Recent state documents in paper format provide information
about varied topics of current interest, while long runs of older
titles, including reports of the Superintendent of Public Instruction
and the Department of Labor, are useful for historical research.
Current issues of periodicals in such fields as the arts, business, the
environment, genealogy, government, history, labor, literature, and the
natural sciences can be found on open shelves in an attractive browsing
area.
Maps
Among
the collection's 4,500 cartographic pieces are United States Geological
Survey topographic maps, National Wetlands Inventory maps, historical
maps of North Carolina and some of its counties, and Garland Stout's
historical research maps of the state's 100 counties, which show
features gleaned from old maps and other documents.
Vertical and Clipping Files
Maintained since the 1920s, the collection's extensive Vertical File and Clipping File
contain useful information about Tar Heel people, places, events, and
other subjects. The Clipping File of newspaper articles enables staff
to provide students with up-to-date information about the state. An index of many of these clippings is available online.
Rare Books and Broadsides
A
small collection of rare books and broadsides reflect the North
Carolina Collection's emphasis on the history of the Eastern North
Carolina.
Microforms
Housed
in a special room within the North Carolina Collection, these include
over 13,000 reels of microfilm (old and current newspapers published in
cites and towns throughout North Carolina; federal census records for
all North Carolina counties, 1790-1930; county records for selected
counties in Eastern North Carolina; Sanborn Map Company maps) and over
37,000 pieces of microfiche containing recent state government
publications. Since 1988 the North Carolina Collection has served as a
depository for state documents reformatted on microfiche by the State
Library. Many of these documents pertain to topics of current
interest--aging, day care, education at all levels, hazardous waste
disposal, and swine farms, to name just a few.
Current Newspapers
Current issues of major state newspapers--Available in the reading room.
Electronic Databases
The North Carolina Collection provides access to LINC (customized data reports can be generated with the assistance of the State Data Center) and the North Carolina Periodicals Index.