Can I find fiction/fantasy books at Ellis Library?
Written by: Clementine Arneson
Ellis Library is a research library, so it doesn’t hugely prioritize housing the newest fiction and fantasy books that may have just been released. However, there are options for patrons looking to find something fun to read in their spare time.
As always, if you know that Ellis has a book and you have the call number, you can find the book using our call number location guide on our website. However, just browsing through these sections can be fun and can introduce you to many new reads.
Ellis Library also has a partnership with the Daniel Boone Regional Library, with a small section of public library books that can be checked out onsite by Ellis patrons. This shelf is located on the first floor, in room 115, to the left of the north entrance. The selection is relatively small, but this shelf is more likely to have recent releases. As of this writing, romance, thriller, and science fiction novels are pretty well represented in this area.
Ellis’s literature section is another place to look. This might require a little more browsing, since our novels, poetry books, plays, short stories, and literary criticism are all located in approximately the same area. These books can be found in the PQ 6 to PZ 4 call number range in the 2 East stacks. These books may not be as contemporary or on trend as the public library’s selection, but we have hundreds of books to browse and choose from. Speaking from my own experience, I have found classics like A Tale of Two Cities and older popular fiction, like The Valley of the Dolls in this section. I have also been able to find some rarer fiction, most recently The House of Childhood.
Finally, the juvenile books section, located in the 4 East stacks is a good place to look. This area does house books for children, but it also has many popular teen fantasy reads, such as Twilight and Harry Potter. Browsing in the call number range JUV AG to JUV ZA should turn up at least a few commonly read titles like these.
If you aren’t finding what you’re looking for in Ellis, the Daniel Boone Regional Library is another great option. It is located a little less than a mile away from Ellis, and has many more new releases and a much larger selection of popular ebooks than Ellis. Students who live in Columbia can apply for a library card online at this link: https://www.dbrl.org/library-card-application. You can also request a book you’re looking for through Ellis’s interlibrary loan service or through MOBIUS. These services utilize a network of libraries and can deliver books from across the state to Ellis Library. You can learn more about these services and how to use them at the following links: https://library.missouri.edu/news/ellis-library/peer-navigator-corner-mobius-lending and https://library.missouri.edu/news/ellis-library/peer-navigator-corner-interlibrary-loan-for-articles. Happy reading!