The Grace M. Hunt Memorial English Reading Room is a library maintained by the UCLA Department of English that houses approximately 35,000 non-circulating books and periodical volumes in the fields of British and American literature, as well as reference and interdisciplinary sources needed to support these areas of study.
Information about the English Reading Room holdings can be found in the UCLA Library Catalog. The collection supports the research and instruction mission of the UCLA Department of English.
Regular Session Hours
Monday – Thursday: 10AM – 6PM
Friday: 10AM – 5PM
Closed all University Holidays and intersession breaks
Summer Session Hours
Monday – Thursday: 10AM – 5PM
Friday: ERR closed, ERR Librarian available for remote services
Closed all University Holidays and intersession breaks
235 Kaplan Hall
(310) 825-4511
Grace M. Hunt Memorial English Reading Room (ERR)
When the English Reading Room (ERR) was established in 1950 under the dedicated stewardship of the founding librarian Grace Hunt, departmental reading rooms with core disciplinary collections and comfortable reading appointments were not uncommon on large university campuses such as UCLA. The original ERR holdings were formed from the bequeathed personal book collection of Frederick Blanchard, the first Chair of the English Department, along with an endowment from Blanchard’s estate which supported acquisitions. From its inception, the ERR has been a cherished departmental resource serving a community of scholars.
Over time, the ERR gained subsequent benefactors, including Bradford and Josephine Booth, Hugh Dick, Majl Ewing, Lily Bess Campbell, Joan Palevsky, Josephine Miles, Nancy Ross, the Nancy Rhodes Trust, the family of Shari Levitt, James and Geneva Phillips, and many other faculty members and patrons of the English Reading Room. In 2003, a considerable bequest from the estate of Grace Hunt helped ensure that the ERR would remain a robust and vital department resource. In 2004, the ERR was renamed to honor the memory of Grace Hunt. Welcoming and devoted to the scholarship of students and faculty users, the Grace M. Hunt Memorial English Reading Room commemorates the individual who embodied those very traits herself.
Students and faculty of the UCLA Department of English enjoy access to the collections and resources housed in the ERR, enabling the ERR to be uniquely positioned to supplement and complement the enterprise-level library resources and services offered by the University Library. The ERR offers user-focused services and resources in support of the teaching and research mission of the Department of English. Its primary users include undergraduate English majors, English Department graduate students, and English Department faculty. Under the stewardship of the English Reading Room Librarian Lynda Tolly and the faculty advisors of the English Reading Room Committee, the ERR maintains a thoughtfully curated collection supporting the scholarship and teaching of the department.
The ERR maintains a collection of approximately 30,000 volumes, including primary texts, academic monographs, and selected reference resources. The ERR also maintains subscriptions to principal journal titles as well as subscriptions to some smaller press journals and periodicals that are not readily available online.
ERR services include personalized research support to the students and faculty of the department, including disciplinary-focused information literacy and library research instruction as well as sophisticated reference and research consultation services to users, and in-depth research consultation services.
For more than 50 years, the ERR has enjoyed the devotion of many students and faculty members. Some have called the reading room the “heart of the department” since it provides a space for English majors to read, write, study, and feel at home. In a city as large as Los Angeles, and on a campus the size of UCLA, the ERR helps foster a sense of community and belonging.