Photo by Beau Scheier

Location

N O'Kelly Ave Elon, NC 27244

Contact

336-542-3349

Website

http://www.elon.edu/e-web/library/default.xhtml

First Floor of Belk Library

Taken by Molly McAdam

Summary

History

Structure and Organization

Archives and Special Editions

Belk library is the largest library of Elon University. Open 143 hours per week and located in 308 North O'Kelly Avenue on Elon University in Elon, North Carolina, Belk Library houses 75,000 square feet of research materials. (About.com)

Monday-Friday, open 24 hours

Friday, closes at 9:00 pm

Saturday, 9:00 am-9:00 pm

Sunday, 10:00 am-open all night

During holidays and breaks there are exceptions to the hours

History

Belk library opened on January 31, 2000, and is named after Carol Grotnes Belk. The building was built by J.H. Allen, and Architected by the firm Shepley, Bulfinch,

Richardson, and Abbott. The library is well-know for their Special Collections. Some books in these collections date back to as early as 1599. (elon.edu)

Structure and Organization

Belk Library is about 75,000 square feet and has three floors, housing a total of 21 study rooms, which are dispersed over three three floors. Its roof is composed of an eight-layer hurricane proof material.The first floor houses classrooms and computer banks, as well as the Writing Center. The second contains bookshelves, classrooms, Archives and Special Editions, and a photocopy and printing station. The third floor contains just books and musical scores.The center of each floor has been left open to allow light to travel through every floor, from the skylights on the roof. The building has an 8-layer hurricane-proof roof, which protects the 350,000+ volumes, 51,700+ full-text online journals, 14 librarians, and 20,000+ CDs, DVDs, and VHS tapes within the library.

Floor Plans/Quietness Hierarchy

Floor	#3
Quietest- Only solitary work allowed.	Call numbers 500-999 Musical Scores
Floor	#2
Semi-quiet- Limited to solo work and small-group work.	Call numbers 000-499 DVD's CD's Newspapers, magazines, journals VHS tapes
Floor	#1
Generally quiet- Large group work permitted.	New books Audiobooks Computer files Reference books (cannot check out)

FloorPlans: http://library.appstate.edu/about/floorplans

(Elon.edu) & (G. Toledo, personal communication, October 4, 2013)

Tutoring Center

Belk Library offers students at Elon University a variety of resources. One of these resources is the tutoring center, located in the first floor of the library. Tutoring is offered Sunday through Thursday, fall and spring semester from 6:00pm-11:00pm. To get an appointment a student can either make an appointment online or walk-in. In case of situations where just a quick question needs to be answered, a student can instant message the tutoring center at ASKTUTORING!!! The tutoring center offers help in a variety of subjects. The main subjects the tutoring center specializes in are Biology, Chemistry, ISC/CSC, and Mathematics. However, plenty of other subjects are offered as well. Other then helping students in challenging subjects the tutor center also helps with information on how to improve study skills.

Writing Center

The writing center is on the first floor of Belk Library towards the back right corner. There is a big blue column that has "Elon University Writing Center" written on it indicating the location of the main office. Online is usually the best place to make appointments, and can be made by students, faculty, and community members. Appointment are somewhere between 15-45 minutes long, and are run by a consultant trained in writing. Appointments are made on Sunday from 2:00pm-10:00pm. These writing centers are mostly used to brainstorm ideas, draft, revise, and edit assignments. Overall the writing center tries to help the develop rhetorical strategies to produce stronger pieces of writing.

Research Assistance

A great resource that Belk Library offers is access to a research assistance. Librarians offer research assistance for students and faculty. These research assistance can be arranged by contacting one of the subject liaison librarians. Short reference questions can also be easily answered by visiting the Ask Us desk located on the first floor.

In addition to research assistance, Belk Library offers data bases for student and faculty use, as well as this library guide.

Archives and Special Editions

By contacting the Archivist and Special Collections Librarian, one can view any of Elon's prized Archives and Special Editions, located on the second floor. The Archives and Special Editions available are as follows:

Church History Collection

"The Church History collection contains materials relating to the Christian Church (founded by James O’Kelly in 1794 in North Carolina and Virginia), the Congregational Church (founded in 1620), Congregational Christian Churches (formed in 1931), Evangelical and Reformed Churches (formed in 1934), and the United Church of Christ (formed in 1957). Additionally, this collection has items pertaining to the Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ and all conferences predating the Southern Conference. The collection consists of individual church histories, biographies of ministers and notable people, meeting minutes from various conferences, photographs, audio-visual materials, items documenting African Americans in churches and conferences, prominent church periodicals and newspapers, and other published and unpublished documents relating to the subjects previously mentioned. The majority of the materials pre-date 1957, the time when the Congregational Christian Church merged with the Evangelical and Reformed Church to form the United Church of Christ. Items are continually added to this collection based on relevance and need." (Elon.edu)

Jane Belk Moncure Children's Book Collection

"This collection contains a complete set of the published works of Jane Belk Moncure, a noted children’s book author and educator. Many of the books in the collection have been translated into other languages including British English, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Malay. Books are no longer being added to this collection." (Elon.edu)

Elon Authors Collection

"This collection primarily has books that Elon University faculty, staff, students, and alumni have written, edited, contributed a chapter/forward/introduction to, and/or published. Some audio-visual materials are also included. Most editions in the collection are signed. Items are continually added to this collection." (Elon.edu)

Williams-Honeycutt Rare Book Collection

"This collection of first-edition books from the 18th and 19th centuries was donated to the library by Elon faculty member Earl Honeycutt and his wife, Laura. The first-edition books were in Laura Williams Honeycutt’s family for over 150 years. Notable books include an 1854 copy of Walden; Or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau, an 1897 copy of Following the Equator by Mark Twain, and a set of books by Jules Verne dated from 1869 to 1924. The collection represents an important part of Belk Library’s collection of first-edition books." (Elon.edu)

Johnson Signed Book Collection

"The original books in this collection were assembled by Ruth Johnson (sister of former librarian at Elon, Oma U. Johnson). The core of the original collection contains signed books written by Southern authors. Over the years the collection has evolved and expanded. Currently, additions to the collection include any book that the library receives that is signed by the author. Many of the books are signed by authors that have visited Elon’s campus to speak." (Elon.edu)

Bible Collection

"This collection consists of important Bibles Belk Library has received from a variety of different donors and locations. Currently, the entire collection is in the process of being organized and cataloged. Please refer to the brief descriptions below regarding the various collections.

William Sloan Bible Collection

This collection of rare and unique Bibles was donated to the library in 1988. William Sloan was a professor of Bible and Religious Education at Elon College from 1947 to 1972. After leaving Elon, Mr. Sloan and his wife, Bessie Pickett Sloan, travelled to various areas in the world such as Russia, Africa, and Europe-collecting Bibles along the way. About 50 books make up the collection, including New Testaments printed in languages such as Swahili and Icelandic.

Pulpit Bible Collection

This collection contains oversized Holy Bibles that were used as pulpit Bibles at Christian and Congregational Churches in North Carolina and Virginia.

Miscellaneous Bibles

This collection includes a Bible used by James O’Kelly, family Bibles, a 1599 Geneva Bible, and a 1613 King James Bible." (Elon.edu)

Hubert McLendon Civil War Collection

"The books in this collection were donated to Elon by Hubert McLendon, a long-time supporter of the library and a noted Civil War historian. The majority of the books in the collection are about the Civil War from the Confederate viewpoint. Along with Mr. McLendon’s donation of Civil War books, he also donated some of his personal papers, Civil War periodicals, and other Civil War memorabilia. Items are continually added to this collection based on relevance and need." (Elon.edu)