Glossary: Academic Library

An academic library is a library that serves an academic institution, such as a university, college, or research center. It specializes in research material for scholarly pursuits.

Other types of libraries include school libraries (for primary and secondary schools), public libraries, corporate libraries (for companies), law libraries (for lawyers), and hospital libraries. Special libraries may serve any special purpose.

Each type of library contains material that suits its purpose. Often students are surprised to find that our library doesn't have a fiction collection for light reading, but we need to visit our public library for that.