Located in spacious quarters on the first two floors of Haaren Hall, the Lloyd Sealy Library houses the foremost collection of criminal justice materials in the world. Boasting more than half a million books, periodicals, microforms, films and digital collections, the Library integrates historical and contemporary materials to present a balanced view of the criminal justice field. John Jay and CUNY faculty and students use this library as well as scholars, practitioners and members of the legal community from all over the world.
The Library’s greatest strengths are in the areas of criminal justice, fire science, forensic psychology, forensic science, public administration, social sciences and related fields. Its extensive resources support the research needs of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and criminal justice agency personnel. The Library holds a number of unique special collections directly related to the mission of the College. There is also a significant body of material dealing with alcoholism and substance abuse. The Library’s extensive media collection, which includes many rare titles and contains approximately 15,000 DVDs and streaming videos, supports classroom instruction as well as research. More than 6 million volumes of books in 20 separate CUNY libraries supplement the Library’s print resources.
The Lloyd Sealy Library maintains its own website, providing the entryway to its digital collections. These include more than 200 general and specialized databases; over 80,000 journals and periodicals; more than 130,000 ebooks; an electronic reserve collection. Our Special Collections holds over 4,000 rare books, including the Fraud and Swindles Collection. We also hold over fifty Manuscript/Archival Collections including Our Criminal Trial transcripts of New York County 1883–1927, the John Jay College Archives and an extensive collection of reports from U.S. and International law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies. Selections from our Special Collections are freely available on our Digital Collections.