Cowles Library is the largest private academic library in Iowa. Under Drake University, Cowles Library supports a variety of digital and print collections. Cowles Library has several archive collections, including eScholarshare and a repository of work from Drake faculty and students. The archive is navigable through SuperSearch, and nearly 100 databases can be accessed through this interface. The library is open to the public, though a few resources are unavailable for non-university members. The Cowles Supersearch provides a quick guide to the Cowles archives. Databases can be browsed based on subject, major, or media. Drake University has a variety of archives outside of the library, too, that can be accessed through the web. Drake University Digital Collections is open to researchers worldwide. The Drake Law School has an archival collection within its library documenting the history of the school and library.
For students, the EBSCO online archives are available through the Cowles Library. Students can access EBSCOhost Web, the Spanish version, and the integrated search. They can also see the Business Searching Interface, the Literary Reference Center, Small Business Reference Center, Biological Abstracts, and a variety of other EBSCO services. These provide great resources for academics, and more limited versions of the archives are available to the public. More than just Drake University’s catalogs, though, the Cowles Library archives contain histories from other establishments like Cambridge University and the Chicago Tribune. For any student interested in history, there are a wide variety of subjects available for research. The Cowles Library archives have access to dozens of collections about a variety of topics. Declassified documents, Civil War Newspapers and magazines, a listener archive, and many more. Not only history students benefit from these collections, though. The archives also hold a complete collection of the Oxford Handbooks covering subjects such as business, philosophy, religion, literature, and psychology. Many classical books, letters, images, and thousands of academic journals provide a wealth of information for any curious student.
Found in Des Moines’ home university, Cowles Library acts as a free service for Drake University students as well as Des Moines residents. It acts as a service to connect Des Moines residents with books, texts, pamphlets, and vinyl that might otherwise be inaccessible to the public. The Cowles Library staff, too, are valuable wells of information. Occasionally, guest speakers and events are held in the library, providing Des Moines residents with invaluable insight from professionals.
