Shaw & Stone Library

Each semester, the Library maintains a collection of required course materials behind the circulation desk. The collection consists of syllabi-adjacent materials submitted each semester by instructor request, and can be searched online by course name, number, or instructor via the online Course Reserve catalog. Materials in the Course Reserve collection are available for in-library use only, so that all on-campus students may access the materials they need at any point during library hours in order to complete their coursework.

The Library maintains a collection of Thesis Documents, submitted as partial fulfillment of graduation requirements of the BAC. They may be located by searching the catalog by author, title, subject, name of thesis advisor, and "Commend" honors. Thesis Documents do not circulate.

In addition to printed thesis documents, the Boston Architectural College Library hosts a repository, which contains theses and final projects produced by BAC students. The collection process of contemporary material began in 2020. The process of uploading and, in some instances, digitizing material is ongoing and will include older thesis documents in the future.

The Library subscribes to over 120 journals and has electronic access to over 600,000 titles online. Periodicals do not circulate. Click here to access.

Closed Stacks books have been placed on permanent reserve because they are fragile and/or out of print, and therefore impossible to replace. Some of the most interesting and important books in the collection are in the Closed Stacks, so please don't hesitate to search for them in the Library Catalog and ask for them by call number at the circulation desk. These books must be used in the Library; they do not circulate under any circumstance.

The Library’s print resources include planometric, topographic, and zoning maps for Boston and Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for both Boston and Cambridge. In addition, the BAC Library has numerous online resources for fire insurance maps, and a specialized database providing historical maps of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut towns and counties, and a research guide created by librarians at the BAC which organizes the Library of Congress collection of county fire insurance maps by state. Full-sized plans (in print or online) for some buildings that are studied each semester, such as the 320 Newbury building, are held in the Library. All maps and plans can be located by using the online catalog.