Contact Belk Library

Location & Directions

Carol Grotnes Belk Library is located at 308 North O’Kelly Avenue on the Elon University campus in Elon, North Carolina.

  • Take Interstate 85/40 to Exit 140 (University Drive).
  • From southbound 85/40, exit right and turn right.
  • From northbound 85/40, exit right and turn left.
  • At the first stoplight (shopping center entrance), turn right.
  • Make a left at the first light onto St. Mark’s Church Road.
  • Follow this road for 2.6 miles. Note that the road’s name changes to Williamson Avenue after you cross S. Church Street. You will cross railroad tracks as you enter the campus area.
  • Turn right at the stoplight on Haggard Avenue.
  • Turn left at the stoplight on N. O’Kelly Avenue.
  • Take the first right into the Visitors Parking Lot at McMichael Science Center. Visitor spaces are on the left.
  • Belk Library is across the street.

View Belk Library on the Campus Map

Library Mission Statement

Carol Grotnes Belk Library advances the culture of engaged intellectual inquiry at Elon University. Our commitment to innovative service and dynamic partnerships enables our diverse community of learners to excel in their lifelong scholarship and artistic pursuits. We provide expertise, collections, and spaces to meet and anticipate the evolving information needs of Elon University and to preserve the university’s history.

Themes that infuse all of Belk Library’s work:

  • Dynamic Partnerships to Excel
  • Information Resources to Achieve
  • Expertise to Innovate
  • Place to Inquire

Engagement through high-impact practices

Carol Grotnes Belk Library is moving into the final year of our current strategic plan, which includes an emphasis on our intentional engagement with high-impact educational practices. As we begin to think about our next plan and prepare to celebrate twenty years of Belk Library in 2020, we have taken the opportunity to reflect upon our progress.

Learn More

Belk Library Strategic Plan

Be the national model of an engaged academic library

Be essential to every high impact practice for engaged learning on Elon’s campus.

  • Build upon the successful partnership between Elon 101 and the Personal Librarian program to connect students to Belk Library resources and services in their first year
  • Expand upon the innovative integration of library instruction to scaffold support for middle- and upper-level courses that are writing-intensive and/or foster common intellectual experiences
  • Make and promote the library as the academic heart of the residential campus
  • Build upon our existing partnerships to co-locate services and resources in shared, permeable spaces to support one-stop service in support of student success
  • Partner with faculty to teach students how to successfully engage in collaborative resource-based research, and create spaces that foster innovation and collaborative work
  • Expand our support and connection to all undergraduate research
  • Build upon our successful integration of library resources (collections and people) to facilitate deeper engagement with global study, leadership and service learning experiences
  • Continue to support capstone experiences through liaison librarian partnerships
  • Expand partnerships with Student Professional Development Center to support internship success for all students
  • Advance research on engagement in academic librarianship
  • Continue to partner with campus colleagues to support world-class faculty and staff research and scholarship

Be the best starting point for information at Elon

Provide access to information resources to meet the needs of the Elon University community.

  • Enhance and simplify access to all library materials through implementation of a new integrated library system and comprehensive redesign of the library website
  • Strive to deliver information wherever, whenever, in whatever format our patrons need
  • Evaluate, curate and provide resources uniquely tailored to the life-long learning needs of the Elon University community
  • Engage in evidence-based collection decision-making to be best stewards of our resources
  • Provide expertise in the use of information resources

Lead the Elon campus in conversations about scholarly communication and data services

Educate ourselves and our colleagues to better prepare Elon to respond to emerging changes in scholarly publishing, information dissemination and data needs (OA, OER, data management, data visualization).

  • Develop library staff’s awareness and expertise on current issues and emerging trends in scholarly communication and data services
  • Engage and, where appropriate, educate campus partners around issues of scholarly communication and data services

Cultivate University Archives and Special Collections

Curate and promote unique collections to advance scholarship and preserve Elon University’s legacy.

  • Enhance and increase discoverability of archival materials & special collections to promote visibility and increase access
  • Actively engage with campus partners to preserve, document, and promote Elon’s history
  • Streamline archival practices and create effective processes to support a robust and nimble archival repository

Support a world-class library staff

Cultivate an organizational culture that supports and equips all staff (including student staff) to perform at their highest level as well as contribute to the library profession.

  • Seek and support professional development opportunities for staff to build expertise, expand professional networks, become aware of emerging trends, and enhance Elon’s reputation
  • Recruit, develop and retain a diverse staff dedicated to supporting an inclusive community and modeling intercultural competence

Belk Library Diversity Statement

A. Values Statement

Carol Grotnes Belk Library is committed to diversity. As reflected in our strategic plan, we hold ourselves accountable to plan, implement and assess diversity initiatives which guide our work as active participants in the university commitment to diversity and inclusion. Our staff promotes inclusion within the library and seeks to provide a welcoming atmosphere for library visitors and employees. The value of diversity in the library is understood and implemented in a variety of ways, including but not limited to the following: a professional and student staff who will assist everyone with acceptance and respect; a staff composed of people representing the diversity of the university and surrounding community; a diverse and representative print and digital collection accessible to the widest possible community.

B. Library Space and Services

The library provides services to all members of the Elon University community and beyond, regardless of race, religion, age, gender identity, sexual identity, veteran status, disability, or socioeconomic status. The library strives to be a welcoming, respectful, and safe place where individuals can research, study and collaborate. Belk Library provides proactive programming, including displays that reflect our diverse collection.

C. Populations Served

Belk Library serves Elon faculty, staff, students, and alumni, as well as the participants of the Center for Access & Success programs of Elon University and their families. In addition, Belk Library serves lifelong learners as well as scholars from nearby universities and community colleges. Through its Interlibrary Loan program, Belk Library serves other universities, community colleges, hospitals, military bases, prisons, businesses, and public libraries.

D. Library Collections

Belk Library consistently builds and maintains a diverse library collection in a variety of formats. The library provides access to technology such as computers and internet access, benefiting Elon and surrounding communities.

E. Library Professional and Student Staff

Belk Library strives to build a staff that reflects the current and aspirational diversity of the Elon University Community. The library staff will continue to strengthen opportunities for professional and student staff to build knowledge and participate in campus inclusion and diversity programming.

F. Action Plan

Specific actions in support of this values statement will be incorporated into the library’s annual strategic planning process. We anticipate that these actions will evolve with the needs of our community and ongoing campus priorities around inclusion and diversity.

Adopted August 2016