Founders Memorial Library, located just south of the Holmes Student Center, is large enough to sometimes have a disturbing effect on new students entering for the first time, said Abbie Loomis, coordinator of library instruction.

“Freshmen and transfers are sometimes confused. They walk in the door here, and they are confronted with four floors filled with close to 2 million books and they panic,” Loomis said.

Founders has five floors with a combined total space of 290,000 square feet. The library has room to seat 2,400 students.

Loomis said special library orientation sessions will be held at the beginning of the 1987 fall semester. “For new students coming in, we will be having tours of the library the week before school starts.”

Tours also will be given the first month to six weeks of the semester, she said. “There will be sign-up sheets on the information desk, and it’s an excellent way for students to get to know the library,” Loomis said.

Loomis said most introductory English courses also provide library orientation.

A major reorganization of the library was finished in August, 1986. “The collection is more easily accessible,” Loomis said.

Combined, Founders Memorial Library and its campus branches, which deal with specific subjects, contain 1.8 million volumes and over 2 million microforms.

Faraday Hall contains works on chemistry and physics. Swen Parson Hall contains the law library, the university archives and the regional history center. The map library is located in Davis Hall, and the music library is housed in the Music Building. Altgeld Hall holds the film library.

Founders also offers LCS (library computer system) which can be used to search the library system for materials.

“It’s a very user-friendly system. It enables students to search not only our library but 25 other libraries, and it’s going to be 30 very soon,” Loomis said.

LCS allows students to search either by author, author and title or call number. Through the LCS system, books can be checked out from other libraries and can be available for pick-up in four to seven days.

Two terminals are located at the information desk (first floor), and student-workers are stationed there to assist new students in learning the system.

The library also is experimenting with a new computer system, Infotrac, which catalogs periodicals. The periodicals section, found on the first floor, contains about 9,500 magazines and newspapers.

Library Director Theodore Welch said Founders has other special sections such as government publications, microforms and the Southeast Asian collection, one of the largest in the nation.

As a federal depository library, Founders stores publications from the U.S government, Illinois and foreign governments and organizations, Loomis said. The government publications department is located on the second floor.

The microforms department, also located on the second floor, contains microfilm, microcard and microfiche.

The Donn V. Hart Southeast Asian Collection can be found on the fourth floor. The collection contains books, periodicals and newspapers from around the world and is one of the largest and most organized in the country, Welch said.

During the school year, Founders will be open Monday through Thursday 7 a.m. to 2 a.m., Friday 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. to 2 a.m. Hours for the summer have not been established yet, but hours for the interim session, May 9 through June 14, are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.