James J. Shea Sr. Memorial Library

James J. Shea Library entrance on sunny day

The Shea Library offers a wide range of services and materials to students, faculty, staff, and other community patrons.

Library resources, policies, support, and more can be found on the myAIC portal.

The mission of the Shea Library is to assist the American International College community in their quest for knowledge by providing resources and services that support information literacy, encourage life-long learning and promote personal fulfillment.

The Shea Library is open to AIC students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the general public. We offer computers for drop-in use by the AIC community, group study rooms, copiers, reference and research help, and much more. Because of the unique history of this college and the gifts which have been bequeathed to the library, the college has been blessed with items which have been studied and examined for their historical content by writers and scholars.

Learning Commons

Fall 2016, the first floor of the Shea Library was transformed into the state-of-the-art learning commons. The learning commons features significant technological upgrades, including laptop and docking stations as well as traditional desktop computers. A variety of study area configurations are available to accommodate different styles of preparation and learning, including independent and small group collaborative zones with soft seating, study tables, bookable boxes (study rooms), as well as a food kiosk with booths and café-style seating. The flag room serves as a large group collaborative zone featuring several furniture configurations, as well as a video projection option and whiteboard space.

See the Shea Library gallery images for a virtual tour of the learning commons.

Archives & Databases

Our archives contain college memorabilia from scrapbooks and photographs to films and videotapes of documented events. The accomplishments of AIC’s illustrious alumni and faculty can be found recorded here.

AIC students, faculty, and staff have access to over 70 databases of newspapers, scholarly articles, ebooks, journals and more through the Shea Library’s LibGuides site (login is required). Popular databases include:

Academic Search Premier
Business Source Premier
Chronicle of Higher Education
CINAHL Complete
EBSCO Discovery
ERIC
IBISWorld
Literature Resource Center
New York Times
UpToDate

A few things you should know…

Current students can access information about the Shea Library through myAIC (login is required). Go here to find information on eBooks, research guides, and library policies.

Click on the links below for a few library quick facts.

Library Hours

Regular Library Hours

Day(s)	Times
Monday – Thursday	7:45 AM – 12:00 AM (midnight)
Friday	7:45 AM – 7:00 PM
Saturday	10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Sunday	10:00 AM – 12:00 AM (midnight)

For special hours during exams, holiday breaks and summer please call 413.205.3225

Circulation and Reserves

Students may borrow items from the circulating collection for up to one month. Renewals are available if the item has not been requested by another patron. Fines are assessed for late items.

Faculty may place items on reserve for their classes. Restricted loan periods and policies apply to reserve items. To find a list of items on reserve by course title or instructor, check the library catalog.

Getting Help

If you need assistance with any of the library’s services, just stop in and one of our staff members can help. The Shea Library is located next to Magna Hall and in front of Lee Hall (when viewed from State Street).

If you have any questions please email us at reference@aic.edu. We will try to respond within one business day.

You can also reach us by phone at 413.205.3225 (main number) or 413.205.3206 (reference department).