St. Mary Seminary logo

Saint Mary Seminary

& Graduate School of Theology

EST. 1848

Library Collection

 

 

The Books

The Library owns over 86,000 items, making it the largest theological library in northeast Ohio.  Its collection of 68,000 books and 6,800 ebooks emphasizes philosophy (particularly that related to St. Thomas Aquinas), scripture, systematic theology, ecumenism, moral theology, spirituality, pastoral theology, religious education, liturgical theology, canon law, Church history, and patristics.

The Catalog

The SMS catalog is the primary means by which patrons can locate books within the collection.  The catalog is accessible at https://catalog.stmarysem.edu.    Search results will include the location of the book, the call number, and the status (such as available, library use only, due on ____, etc.).  In the case of ebooks, individual bibliographic records will contain links connecting patrons to the full text.

The library is also a member of a consortium of 117 academic libraries called OhioLINK.  Consortium libraries are interconnected by a Library Services Platform from Ex Libris called Alma/Primo VE.  Member libraries have access to approximately 38 million physical items statewide.  Students, faculty, and staff can use the OhioLINK system to find and request materials online and have them delivered to their home library.

And should the search of the OhioLINK system not locate a particular item, SearchOhio, the State of Ohio consortium of public libraries, is another option.  Currently disabled due to OhioLINK’s migration to Alma/Primo VE, the SearchOhio option will be reestablished upon completion of its own migration to Alma/Primo VE in the latter part of 2025.

Journals

The Library subscribes to approximately 200 print journals and owns more than 18,000 bound journals. Current issues are on display in the balcony.  Back issues of the current year are found in alphabetically arranged boxes behind the display shelves in the balcony.  Bound journals are shelved alphabetically on mobile shelving in the basement.  All journals, both current issues and bound volumes, are “Library Use Only” and may not be checked out.

Links to about 400 ejournals may be found in the journal’s bibliographic record in the SMS Library catalog.  In addition, the EJournal Finder is a tool OhioLINK provides for locating journals that may be accessed online.  Located on the OhioLINK main page under the heading For OhioLINK Users, it may be searched by title, or you can browse by discipline.  The Full Text Access button shows a list of the databases which include the title in its indexing.

All totaled, whether current or archival, whether print or microform or electronic, SMS Library patrons have access to 760 journals which they can consult for their research. (SMS Master Journals List)

Databases (also called Periodical Indexes)

Databases provide access to the journal literature.  The primary databases for the Saint Mary Seminary Library are:  the Atla Religion Database; AtlaSerials PLUS, Religion Collection; New Testament Abstracts; and Old Testament Abstracts.  To access these databases, go to https://www.stmarysem.edu, and under the Library tab, click on the Search button.

Also listed here are OhioLINK databases of particular interest to SMS students, including Academic Search Complete, Dissertation Abstracts, Humanities International Complete, and Religion and Philosophy Collection.

To find more than 100 additional databases, go to https://www.ohiolink.edu and click on “Research Databases”.

Other Holdings

Audiovisuals

The Library holds nearly 500 media resources, including video recordings in both VHS and DVD formats, audio CDs, and recordings of special events within the Diocese (such as the Mullen Lectures, priesthood ordination celebrations, etc.).

Microforms

The Library owns a number of resources in microfilm and microfiche format.  Notable among our holdings are a complete run of the Catholic Universe Bulletin on microfilm.  Also available are a microfilm reader and a film/fiche reader/printer.  Please request assistance from the Library staff if you wish to make use of these resources.

Horstmann Collection

Bishop Ignatius F. Horstmann, the third bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland, was an avid bibliophile, and made frequent book-buying trips to Europe.  On his death, his library, comprised of volumes dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries, was donated to the Seminary.  Noteworthy among his donation were complete sets of J.-P. Migne’s Patrologiae Graeca and Patrologia Latina.  The Horstmann collection is that which remains of his original library.  Books in this collection are designated by call numbers beginning with “HC”, and are “Library Use Only”.

Electronic Book Center    

The OhioLINK Electronic Book Center (EBC) contains more than 125,000 e-book titles, covering numerous subjects, and includes scholarly monographs, encyclopedias, dictionaries and other reference works. Most e-books are permanently owned by OhioLINK. Content is funded through a combination of member library contributions and OhioLINK central funds.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center              

OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) contains over 58,000 theses and dissertations from students at 31 of Ohio’s world-renowned academic institutions. In 2012, Google thanked OhioLINK for making ETD open-access content easier to find by Google Scholar. Theses and dissertations from Ohio’s academic institutions were downloaded more than six million times from researchers around the globe in 2015.