J. Clarence Kelly Library   Penn State Greater Allegheny

The following provides information about the Greater Allegheny (formerly McKeesport) campus library facility and history. For specific questions, concerns, or suggestions please feel free to contact the Library at 412-675-9110. For specific contact information please look at the staff directory.

What will you find at the Kelly Library?

• 40,000+ items (books, DVDs, CDs...)
• 200+ print periodicals (magazines, journals, newspapers)
• Access to 350+ online databases
• Access to 5 million+ items through InterLibrary Loan
• Research assistance (librarians and staff are here to assist you)
• Public PCs with Microsoft Office software, Internet access
• Wireless Internet access
• Public photocopier (copies are $.10 per page)
• Free printing for students
• Scanner with Photoshop software for working with images
• Quiet study or meeting room (can be reserved in advance)
• Library access and services for Pennsylvania residents through the Friends of Penn State program
• And more... keep reading for details...
  

The libraries provide access to many resources via LIAS. Included in LIAS is the CAT (the libraries' online catalog of all library collections). The CAT is used to identify and locate Penn State Library materials. LIAS also provides access to full-text services, Internet gateways, WWW (World Wide Web), and many specialized databases, including library catalogs from other institutions around the world. LIAS is accessed online at http://www.libraries.psu.edu. Additional access to periodical literature is available in print indexes.

The main floor of the library houses Reference, abstracts and indexes, Reserves, periodicals, newspapers, atlases, college catalogs, microforms, and part of the circulating collection. A photocopy machine (copies are $.10/page), microfiche and microfilm reader/printers, audio and video cassette players, and DVD/CD players are available. We recently acquired a new scanner for students to use, along with Photoshop, for scanning and editing images.

The lower level of the library has the other portion of the circulating collection, and study areas for quiet study, the Center for Academic and Career Excellence [ACE], the John H. Gruskin Learning Center and the Educational Resource Library Center.

Computing Facilities

The library currently has two wireless network/Internet access points (HUBs), one in the upper and one in the lower level. Free use of this wireless network is available to all PSU students, staff and faculty using VPN access.

The following computers are available:

3 LIAS Express for viewing the Catalog and PSU Databases (Anyone can use without a PSU username and password).

10 LIAS Enhanced with Microsoft Office Suite which can view the Catalogue, Databases, and has Internet access (PSU Faculty, Staff, and Student use only).

Of those thirteen PCs, 1 has a DVD Player (Express Machine), 1 has a large monitor display (Enhanced Machine) and 1 is located in the lower level (Enhanced Machine).

The library also has a free standing PC (not on the network or Internet) with Microsoft Office and a public scanner and printer

The library has a Quiet Study/Instruction Room which will soon contain 15 computers and there is a wireless access point in the room.

Brief History

The library was built in 1972 and is named for a respected member of the McKeesport community, Dr. J. Clarence Kelly. Dr. Kelly was born December 27, 1882 on a farm near Slippery Rock, PA. He graduated from Slippery Rock State Normal School in 1904, with a bachelor of science degree. He went on to graduate from the newly founded University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1910. He worked at McKeesport Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital and was visiting surgeon at Pittsburgh Hospital and Columbia Hospital, at Wilkinsburg, until 1917. That year (1917) he began practice of general surgery and gynecology on the staff of McKeesport Hospital. In 1952, 20 business and professional friends donated $4,000.00 to McKeesport Hospital to furnish an operating room in the new wing in his honor. At his death, in 1970, he was still a member of the consulting staff, (59 years).

On Wednesday, October 10, 1979 at 10:30 o'clock, The Pennsylvania State University in the Ostermayer Auditorium, at McKeesport, Pa., dedicated the Kelly Library, in memory of Dr. J. Clarence Kelly. The plaque reads "Where slender cast a giant shadow of compassion and understanding across the community, inspiring others to acts of service and generosity emulating his own benevolences."

From the dedication program:
Dr. Kelly is lovingly remembered in the McKeesport area, even nine years after his passing from our midst. He is remembered for his outstanding talents as a physician and surgeon, but the surpassing memory is of his genius as a human being.

According to Dr. Preston Bradley, "the test of genius is not originality, the test of genius is universality". Dr. Kelly was truly a universal man...qualified as an engineer, a teacher, a pharmacist, a physician, and surgeon, and widely consulted for his practical guidance in business matters. But of far greater importance, he was sought out because he was a compassionate person...

...His personal philosophy was summed up in a small poem, which he shared with his son. The few lines, written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, can provide sound advice and guidance to all of us, as we try to follow the path of kindness and concern which he walked here on earth.

With every rising of the sun
Think of your life as just begun
The Past had cancelled and buried deep
All yesterdays. There let them sleep.
Concern yourself with but today
Grasp it and teach it to obey
Your will and plan. Since time began
Today has been a friend of man.

In the memory of Dr. J. Clarence Kelly, at the request of the Advisory Board of the McKeesport Campus, the Board of Trustees of The Pennsylvania State University has named the building

"THE J. CLARENCE KELLY LIBRARY"