Harry Potter in the University Library? Hogwarts at UC Davis?

As the world awaits tonight's midnight release of the latest in the series of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, the campus's Shields Library already has an extensive collection of the series' novels and both scholarly and popular materials about them.

The library houses both the American and English editions of the novels, and is the only UC library with a copy of all the books in the UK Bloomsbury juvenile and adult editions. In all, there are about 50 items in the collection.

Copies of the sixth novel in the series, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," are on order for the library along with DVDs of all the films.

In addition to the novels, Shields Library has a wide range of books about Harry that address a spectrum of religious, theological, spiritual, philosophical and literary perspectives on the phenomenon.

Associate Librarian Diana King says, "The collection has received very heavy use and has helped generate some interesting paper topics about the dissemination and cultural reception of the books by different social groups."

The Shields Library is open until 6 p.m. Friday night, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday and from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday. It is closed Saturday.

For information on borrowing privileges, please visit http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/access/circ/borcirc/libcardsprivileges.php#lp.