Books & Journals

Bookstacks—Lower Level (Basement)-west

Leavey Library provides a foundational collection of core, interdisciplinary works. This 12,000-volume collection includes fundamental texts in all fields, with an emphasis on materials in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and some natural sciences that support the university's General Education requirements, including the Writing Program. In addition to classic works, the collection emphasizes current materials and is refreshed on a regular and ongoing basis to reflect contemporary scholarship. Consult the USC Libraries Search and Catalog for specific holdings.

Also housed in the west wing are specialized titles:

New Books—recently added materials

Drama

Based on donations from the USC School of Dramatic Arts faculty, Leavey Library maintains a collection of plays. Titles include both individual plays and anthologies, all of which are listed in the USC Libraries Search and Catalog and may be checked out for four weeks. Leavey also holds a collection of theatrical performances on DVD which can be checked out for seven days.  Students looking for plays should also consult the Performing Arts research guide for information regarding the more extensive holdings available within the Libraries' regular collections. Both Doheny and Leavey libraries have many plays shelved by call number in their bookstacks. Consult the USC Libraries Search and Catalog for specific holdings.

Loeb Classical Library

The Loeb Classical Library is the only existing series of books which, through original text and English translation, gives access to all that is important in Greek and Latin literature. Epic and lyric poetry; tragedy and comedy; history, travel, philosophy, and oratory; the great medical writers and mathematicians; those Church fathers who made particular use of pagan culture—in short, our entire classical heritage is represented here in convenient and well-printed pocket volumes in which an up-to-date text and accurate and literate English translation face each other page by page. The editors provide substantive introductions as well as essential critical and explanatory notes and selective bibliographies.

Great Books/Classics

The Great Books of the Western World is a series of classic texts in literature, history, philosophy, and science, including the works of Homer, Plato, Virgil, Plutarch, Locke, Shakespeare, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Gibbon, Descartes, Newton, Freud, and many others.

The Franklin Library was a division of the Franklin Mint that produced fine collectors' editions of classic books. The title of our Franklin collection is The Collected Stories of The World's Greatest Writers:

"This magnificent collection of books includes the most significant novels, biographies, histories, dramas and the greatest works of poetry, philosophy and science, as chosen by a distinguished group of scholars. Many are now very scarce. Each volume has a small booklet with notes on the volume. Authors include: Franz Kafka, Honore de Balzac, Anton Chekhov, Kurt Vonnegut, Jonathon Swift, Katherine Anne Porter, Miguel de Cervantes, Jack London, Aldous Huxley, James Joyce, Thomas Mann, Eta Hoffman, Jean Paul Satre, Vladimir Nabokov, Edith Wharton, William Faulkner....[and many more]." (from abebooks.com).

 

Popular Reading—The McNaughton Collection (Second Floor Lobby)

This collection features recently published fiction, graphic novels, and nonfiction titles. Genres include mystery, adventure, romance, biography, and current events. There is something for everyone! These books circulate on short-term loan (two weeks), much like at the public library. Visit the second-floor lobby to browse the bookshelves or search the USC Libraries Catalog for Call Number MCN to find the McNaughton books.