Library collections
The University of Arizona Poetry Center possesses one of the finest, most extensive, and most fully accessible collections of contemporary poetry in the nation. The Poetry Center’s library is most comprehensive in contemporary English-language poetry (including translations from other languages) from the last half of the twentieth century through the current day and maintains a strong representative collection of poetry from previous decades and centuries. The collection comprises single-author monographs, anthologies, literary journals, rare books, limited-edition books, artist-made books, chapbooks, broadsides, photographs, prose and critical works by poets, and audiovisual recordings. There is an open-shelf reference collection including dictionaries, directories, handbooks, encyclopedias, biographies, and bibliographies. The Poetry Center's collections are non-circulating, but are entirely open to the public. The majority of the Center's books are housed in open stacks ideal for browsing.
Learn more about the Library's Collections:
- voca: The Audio/Video Library with hundreds of recordings of poets reading their work over the past several decades
- The Ruth Stephan and Myrtle Walgreen Collection, which houses books, anthologies, journals, children's books, rare books, broadsides, photographs, and recordings
- Archival Collections featuring University of Arizona Poetry Center records, The University of Arizona M.F.A Program Thesis Collection, and more information about voca and the LaVerne Harrell Clark Photographic Collection
- Exhibitions presented in the Jeremy Ingalls Gallery of the Poetry Center and online
- LaVerne Harrell Clark Photographic Collection of more than 1,000 digitized portraits of poets and writers
- Search our catalog
- Read our Collection Development Policy, which provides guidance for the growth of our library collections
- View our historical record of readings that have taken place at the Poetry Center
Want to donate to the Library? Check our Library Donation Policy first.